Chapter 1001
"We had it under control, Ves. The risks were manageable and we easily achieved our objectives." Leland soothed the recovering mech designer lying limp on his bed inside a military hospital.
"Getting shot in exchange for alarming the Mech Corps doesn't sound like a good deal when I was only one step away from death! Is this how Flashlight treats their own people?!"
"It's not easy to join our ranks, Ves." Leland shook his head. "It's not that easy to join our ranks. You have to show you are willing to do whatever it takes to further our goals. I'm happy to say that your dedication to the agency so has been more than satisfactory. As long as you do your part in feeding the investigators from the Mech Corps the information we want them to obtain, I'm sure they'll move on it with the highest priority."
"It all comes down to the mission, does it?" Ves sighed. "Fine. I'll play along, but Flashlight better compensate me for what you've put me through!"
"Relax, Ves. We aren't in the habit of treating our own people poorly. I'll be sure to write a glowing evaluation of your performance and cooperation as soon as this mission comes to an end."
While Ves was inordinately pissed at Leland and Flashlight for being so cavalier with his life, there was no point in falling out with the powerful agency. The simple rational calculus was that it benefited him more if he remained in their camp than if he decided to cut ties with them out an emotional fit.
As Ves should be under strict guard, Leland couldn't stick around for long. He left the hospital room in the VIP section shortly afterwards.
Minutes later, a military police captain followed by some aides entered the room. "Mr. Larkinson, I hope you have recovered sufficiently to answer some questions. Right now, it's eighteen hours since you've been shot, but our investigations are still very much ongoing. You help and insight may be crucial to figuring out why you've been targeted."
Ves smiled sardonically at the clueless people sent by the Mech Corps to question him. They had no idea of Flashlight's involvement.
While he could have spilled the beans on their plans and their attempt at his life, what would that get him? Not only would he become a persona-non-grata to the powerful intelligence agency, the Mech Corps might not even be able to protect him from their inevitable reprisal!
If there was one thing Flashlight hated the most, it was becoming exposes!
Therefore, Ves kept Leland's intentions and mind and planned to spin a tale that aligned with Flashlight's goals. "You're in luck, captain, because I have a pretty good idea who wants me dead."
Ves proceeded to reveal his mostly truthful observations of an alarming scheme to smuggle out military hardware from the KNG's Mosville Complex!
In order to push the Mech Corps into taking a harder stand against the Kadar-Neyvis Group, Ves also sprinkled some exaggerations in his tale. He painted the Mosville Complex as a rotten place where a lot of improprieties happened beneath the surface.
"This is very unsettling news, Mr. Larkinson." The military police captain said with a severe frown. "It is especially alarming to hear that a veteran chief technician is at the heart of this scheme."
"It's not just Chief Errel Nyquist who's conspiring against the Mech Corps for the BLM. I'm certain that Carl Stoddard, the mech designer sent by the higher-ups of the company to supervise the Mosville Complex is a part of this scheme as well. I'm just a liaison mech designer, but I immediately managed to uncover this criminal conspiracy after a week of visits! It's impossible that a mech designer who's been stationed at the complex for a year is blind to the misdeeds that happen there!"
Hearing that immediately made the expression on the captain more severe. "Are you certain of your allegations?"
"Unless he's the most incompetent mech designer in the Republic, which is extremely unlikely given that the KNG spent a lot of effort in raising him, he is sure to be involved!"
No one except other mech designers and those in the technical profession could call him out on his exaggerations. Even if Ves hyped up the threat, he could still be forgiven considering that Stoddard really ought to be on top of the happenings at the complex.
Right now, the investigators sent to hear Ves out all took in the damning accusations with utmost seriousness.
"Although almost a day has passed, we'll act quickly on the information you provided to us. WIth any hope, the BLM moles working at the Mosville Complex haven't cleaned up the evidence as of yet. We'll immediately take Chief Nyquist and Mr. Stoddard into custody. With any hope, the ringleaders haven't gone to ground for long."
Ves nodded. "Be careful of boobytraps and sabotage. I can't tell whether the Mosville Complex is rigged to blow, but I also found some other irregularities at their Ansel Complex. You should take every mech technician into custody and test them out whether they're under the influence of a performance-enhancing substance supplied by the BLM. I've seen many of my classmates back on Rittersberg being ruined by the same stuff, so I know what I'm talking about."
"Thank you for informing us, Mr. Larkinson. Rest assured, we will inform the highest authorities on top of this case of your testimony. For now, your duties as a liaison mech designer are suspended for the time being. Just focus on recuperating for now. You have done us a great service for surviving this heinous assassination attempt on your life. Further merit will surely be in store for you once we follow up on your allegations."
After answering a few more questions, the military police captain quickly left to act on the explosive information. Ves waved them off from his bed and wished them good luck in their follow-up investigation.
Considering that the BLM wasn't responsible for the hit on him, there was a good chance that Chief Nyquist and his accomplices hadn't wiped out the evidence or gone to ground yet. Eighteen hours was a long time for them to erase their tracks, so Ves hoped that the Mech Corps truly took his words seriously as Flashlight hoped to achieve with their outrageous stunt.
"Goddamn Leland." He cursed again.
Ves idly patted his chest and pulled against the collar of his hospital gown to see the damage with his own eyes.
It looked better than he expected.
From what he heard, the burned, vaporized and damaged portions of his skin and flesh had been removed and replaced with flash-cloned tissue.
Ordinarily, this was a difficult and intensive procedure that also took a lot of time, but evidently the military hospital prioritized his emergency treatment and pulled out all the stops to bring him back into a condition where he could talk.
Perhaps Flashlight also pushed the Mech Corps into prioritizing his treatment in the background. After all, the intel he gathered would only be actionable for a short time. The longer it took for him to wake up, the greater the chance the moles at the KNG cleaned up their acts.
Even so, flash-cloning tissue was purely an emergency stopgap procedure as they usually came with a very short and accelerated lifespan. Ves would likely have to undergo several follow-up operations to replace the flash-cloned tissue with properly cultivated cloned tissue.
He'd probably be bedridden for a month or longer depending on the difficulty of the cloning process.
A day went by as he quickly recovered from his weakened state. As nurses occasionally entered to see to his needs, he asked for access to the galactic net.
"I'm pretty bored here. Please give me something to do."
"Let me ask for permission." The nurse replied. "Not every guest in the VIP section is allowed to access the galactic net."
Fortunately, whoever was in charge of this decision threw Ves a bone and allowed him limited read-only access to the galactic net. Unspoken was the fact that the connection would constantly be monitored, but Ves didn't mind that detail.
As soon as he browsed a news portal, he almost vomited out blood when he read the leading headlines!
FAILED BLM ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON A WAR HERO - WILL VES LARKINSON SURVIVE?
LARKINSON FAMILY HAS REACTED WITH FURY AND INDIGNATION! READ THEIR FULL STATEMENT HERE
AN OUTPOURING OF SYMPATHY! CELEBRITIES, MECH ATHLETES AND MECH OFFICERS REACT TO THE LATEST BLM ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Ves knew that if the Mech Corps really wanted to, they could have kept everything under wraps. Instead, they decided to publicise the sympathetic tale of a distinguished mech designer and war hero almost getting killed by the BLM to foster support and tarnish the separatists!
At the very least, the drastic story caused his public profile to be raised even further. An assassination attempt on a decorated mech designer was incredibl sensational news! So much so that Ves already encountered ads for the LMC when he skimmed through the articles on the news portals.
"It's worth getting shot as long as the LMC doubles their sales." He jokingly muttered.
Hell, he might even consider staging another assassination attempt on him if he could triple the company's sales.
Of course, that was just an idle fancy. There was no way the public wouldn't grow suspicious when the same thing happened again.
Besides the explosive news on the assassination attempt on Ves, he also read a couple of explosive articles on the KNG.
KADAR-NEYVIS GROUP UNDER SCRUTINY! THEIR FACILITIES IN DORUM, ANSEL AND MOSVILLE HAS BEEN RAIDED BY MILITARY POLICE!
TERRORISTS ATTACKED A KNG MANUFACTURING COMPLEX AT ANSEL! HUNDREDS OF WORKERS AND MILITARY POLICEMEN ARE DEAD!
MOSVILLE BLM CRACKDOWN! FIGHTING AND UNREST OCCURRED AT KNG PLANT AT MOSVILLE! SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN THE CITY RAIDED BY THE PLANETARY GUARD AND MILITARY POLICE!
It turned out that the Mech Corps moved out pretty much instantly after Ves provided his exaggerated testimony. The news portals managed to connect the unsettling events that happened to the KNG with his publicly-known assignment as liaison mech designer to the company.
They also tied the assassination attempt and the chaos that ensued at the KNG's Ansel and Mosville Complexes to the notorious Bentheim Liberation Movement. They detonated planted explosives at each of the facilities, killing many people and forcing every operation to a shutdown.
Ves knew that such a forced halt would hurt the KNG enormously! The company was so dependent on continued mass production that the months needed to repair the damage and hire new emergency workers to replace the dead and resigning workers would be too late to save the company!
"The KNG is financially doomed!"
Even if the detonations hadn't sown as much chaos at the two facilities, the investigations alone posed an incredible burden to the company. The investigators dispatched by the Mech Corps would surely turn every stone around and interrogate every employee of the company. The disruption this caused would slow down the company's recovery even further.
As news of BLM involvement at the KNG continued to proliferate on the galactic net, the company's reputation would sustain irreparable damage as well. The company's reputation would quickly turn so toxic that Ves predicted that Mrs. Kadar and Mr. Neyvis could no longer count on their numerous connections to lend them a hand.
Their political connections from Rittersberg? If there was one thing the capital hated the most, it was the separatists that fought to wrestle Bentheim away from the Bright Republic!
Their military connections to the various mech regiments of the Mech Corps? The KNG leaked out their exclusive military mechs and design specifications to the BLM! The Volari Starkhawks and the Sparky Nuts probably hated the KNG and already cut their ties to the tarnished company.
Their local connections to the Neyvis Family? Their influence only stretched so far, and owning a bank wouldn't help much considering one of its biggest investments was already starting to go into a freefall in valuation! The Industrial and Commercial Bank of Bentheim would suffer financial problems of their own soon enough!
As for their underground connections, the Peace Association didn't dare to get involved now that the military moved with full force. The gangs that ruled Bentheim also abided by an unofficial agreement with the Bright Republic to never offer any support to the Bentheim Liberation Movement. Right now, the last thing the Peace Association wanted was to be painted with the same brush as the separatists!
Ves shook his head as he reasoned out how every single connection the KNG previously relied upon for their backing would bail out. "In the end, they are only fair-weather friends. They're willing to stick around when times are good, but the moment something awful happens, they are nowhere to be found."
This incident showed him that relying on backers couldn't solve every problem.
"Even some pirates are more loyal than that." He snorted. "Good friends are hard to find."
Chapter 1002
A couple of days went by as Ves spent his time in his hospital room in isolation. He knew that a pair of heavily-armed security guards stood outside the door. A whole host of other security measures protected this wing of the military hospital as well, so absolutely nothing should pose a threat to his life.
He chuckled at that naive notion. "I thought I was safe inside the perimeter of a military base. Turns out I was wrong."
What really got to him was that his own side decided to gamble with his life in order to agitate the Mech Corps and shoved them into action!
Their heightened state of alert and the alarm they felt after hearing what Ves had to say on the KNG indeed achieve the drastic effects that Flashlight sought. Certainly, their hasty raids at the Ansel and Mosville Complex resulted in a lot of casualties that could have been prevented if the military police moved slower and planned out their raids in advance.
The blood of the workers and the military policemen that died from those partially-botched raids stained Ves and Flashlight's hands. Yet Ves figured that this mission had definitely ended in success in their books.
So what if a couple of hundred people died? Those deaths only magnified the blame being put on the feet of the KNG. None of the backers who formerly supported the company behind the scenes dared to share in the blame by protecting the company from the storm of criticism from the public!
As Ves stayed on top of recent events through his connection to the galactic net, he felt a little regret at being one of the principal instigators responsible for dragging down this once-promising company.
"Estelle and Antoine doesn't deserve most of the blame." He sighed. "They ran their company to the best of their abilities. Nothing they've done in person can be faulted."
As mech designer and a business owner himself, Ves really sympathised with the tough times they must be going through right now. They didn't make any mistakes by themselves. They just trusted the wrong people too much and failed to put the right people in the right positions.
In short, Kadar and Neyvis failed in delegating responsibilities to others.
Overall, the KNG's current fate served as an object lesson to Ves in the dangers of delegating incorrectly. It was very difficult to screen out bad apples when they did their best to blend in with the good apples.
As the example of theKNG amply showed, technology and other sophisticated means of control only worked up to an extent. It was more important to keep the workplaces staffed with loyal employees that wouldn't let any shenanigans that damaged the company take place.
"So in short, I have to indoctrinate my employees." He concluded.
By aligning the values and beliefs of the workers to the LMC's corporate culture and identity, they would become so attached that they would mindlessly defend the company whenever possible.
It wasn't easy to accomplish such a feat. The workers needed to be treated well and feel valued by the company in order to reciprocate.
Ves believed that the KNG attempted to do such a thing. "It explains why they are paid so well. All the KNG employees I've talked to all professed their devotion to the company."
Still, their enthusiasm for the company was primarily back by benefits. The workers all stood up for the KNG, but only to show their gratitude for all the pay they received.
"In the end, the KNG's attempt to secure the loyalty of their workers missed the mark."
Shared identity could only get you so far. A shared identity based on greed and avarice encouraged workers to look the other way whenever they saw something shady. Ves bet that many workers not involved in the scheme at the Mosville Complex probably received some bribes to ignore some shady activity if they came too close.
"If I want to prevent the same thing from happening at the LMC, I will have to redefine its corporate culture and incorporate some aspirational values and beliefs.
His employees needed to feel pride for their work and share in the dream that Ves wanted to fulfill. They needed to feel as if they were part of a great mission, just like how most of the servicemen of the Mech Corps took pride in their service.
"It's not going to be easy to emulate such a level of devotion in my workforce."
Ves had more than enough time to figure out his approach to this huge and complex issue. Lying around in bed only to browse the news or watching some drama broadcasts only distracted him to an extent.
"I'm a man of action. I'm no longer someone who passively reads the news. I'm influential enough to make the news. As for those silly action dramas, the events I've lived through are a thousand times more exciting than seeing some actors flail around in a simulated studio!"
He used to be a big watcher of galactic drama broadcasts when he was young. Yet once the inexperience of his youth faded away, he lost his interest in fake adventures and contrived storylines.
In truth, Ves wanted nothing more than to design a mech to lift up his miserable mood. Though he didn't have any particular mech design in mind, he just wanted to do his job instead of staying stuck in this tightly-guarded hospital room.
At some point, Ves received a familiar guest.
"How is it going, Ves?"
"Leland! You're my least favorite person from the organization, you know! How dare you return in my presence! I ought to shoot you so you can feel how bad it hurts when you get shot through the heart!"
"If you never want to see me again, you'll get your wish. This is the final time we'll meet." Leland smiled.
"It's done, then?"
"Your mission is a success. Even though events haven't completely spiraled into our preferred direction, the damage the KNG suffered and he backlash that is dragging down the company is more than ample enough to satisfy our superiors. They're pleased. Very pleased. There is no doubt that if you haven't suffered an attack, the Mech Corps would have never acted so decisively. Again, thanks for that. We highly appreciate your initiative and cooperation."
Can you tell me something? What happened to Chief Nyquist?"
Leland frowned. "Unfortunately, Chief Nyquist appeared to have detected something amiss. He didn't show up for work the day after the attempt on your life. He's a careful sort. The only consolation we have is that we managed to nab most of his accomplices, at least those that didn't pull out weapons or detonated bombs in order to go out in a blaze of fury."
"Carl Stoddard, the presiding mech designer at the Mosville Complex?"
"Mr. Stoddard has been taken into immediate custody by the military police. From what they've uncovered so far, even if he didn't have a clue of what went on, he'll still be spending at least forty years behind bars for his monumental mistakes. Right now, the Mech Corps has already confirmed that the BLM obtained valuable military mech parts. The total numbers and the true scope of the scheme is still unclear, but their estimates of missing mechs keep trending upwards."
That practically sealed Stoddard's fate. Even if he only got forty years or so and got free by the end of his lengthy prison term, there was no way he would ever be able to pick up on his life. He would be old and senile once he regained his freedom and would be in no shape to resume his career, especially if he missed out on four decades of advancements in the industry.
Did Stoddard deserve the punishment the Mech Corps had in store for him? Probably not. The man was incompetent, not a traitor. Yet the military police probably already set him out to be some traitor due in part to Ves' allegations.
Even if Stoddard cleared his name on that, he still held plenty of blame, though strictly speaking the blame also extended to the people who assigned him to the Mosville Complex.
"What will happen to Estella Kadar and Antoine Neyvis?"
"I'm not sure yet." Leland shrugged. "They are under an intense amount of scrutiny. Everything sketchy about them is being uncovered right now. You of all people know that business leaders always have a skeleton or three in their closets. Depending on what the investigating authorities find out, prison sentences are not out of the question."
Ves didn't think the two parents deserved such a fate. "Surely they won't land in jail, right?"
"I'm not sure the public can accept letting them go, especially after the explosive news of yesterday. It's clear though that all of their connections feel burned. The KNG's long-standing allies have all cut ties in order to halt the damage to their reputation. There are already some rumblings going on at the Ansel University of Mech Design and the Ministry of Economic Development. Both institutions were closely involved with the KNG, so both of them also got burned the most."
A bit of schadenfreude suffused Leland's voice. He, and by extension Flashlight, clearly took pleasure at their misfortune.
"What about my mission? Now that I've completed it, what's in store for me, Leland?"
"Right now, we don't plan to assign you anywhere near our organization. For some reason, the Mech Corps decided to use you as a propaganda tool to fire up the public. You're way too high profile now that we won't be able to move you without attracting a lot of unwelcome attention from the Mech Corps. They'll make their own arrangements for you, I suspect, but it shouldn't be anything arduous or risky."
With all the dangers Ves went through, the Mech Corps better not put him back in danger again. "What about my rewards? You guys better pay me back extra for going the extra mile!"
Leland slightly shook his head. "That's not how it works. We reward our people based on their merit and accomplishments. That's slightly different from the amount of effort you put into accomplishing your objectives. We don't care about the process, only the result. For example, there's no difference to us between killing an important individual by firing a laser pistol at him, stomping him flat with a mech or to bombard his entire location with an artificial asteroid. We only care if that person is dead without exposing who is behind the attempt."
"Ah. I see." Ves understood the message. "Even so, the KNG is practically doomed and all of their backers have suffered varying amounts of backlash. MinEcDev, Spotlight, the AUMD and all the organizations you seem to have a beef with are probably looking at themselves in a mirror wondering if they made some wrong decisions. This is what you really set out to do, right?"
"Correct. With your help, we've managed to issue a severe wakeup call to those complacent organizations. They have all took the war for granted to the point of pursuing their own interests to the detriment of the state."
Ves at least didn't think that Leland lied to him about this. Even if Flashlight only sought to slap the faces of those arrogant institutions, the events set in motion would genuinely strengthen the Bright Republic in the long term. If all went well, they should be a little bit more careful in the companies they backed.
"My reward, then?"
"It will take some time for the entire incident to blow over. We'll tally your results and contributions and pay you what we owe to you. I've already received word that we are already in the process of changing the ownership of the shares in your company that's held by the Ministry of Economic Development. Moving too quickly will attract too much attention, though, so you'll have to wait until after the end of the war for the transfer to be completed."
"That's better than nothing." Ves muttered.
"I should go now. Remember to keep your mouth shut and you'll have a splendid time with us. By the way, you have other guests waiting outside. I've taken the liberty to arrange their entry into this guarded section of the hospital for you. Remember, even if we can't transfer you as we wish, we're constantly keeping an eye on you! Don't say anything you're not supposed to say!"
As Leland disappeared from sight, the door quickly opened to allow two women to enter. Ves perked up from their arrival.
"Calsie! Ketis! Why are you here?!"
He then noticed the mechanical pet bundled up in Ketis' arms. His eyes practically bulged when he spotted the comm that held the vitally important Mech Designer System around Lucky's collar!
Why did they bring along Lucky as well?! Who knew how many eyeballs stared at them at this moment!
Chapter 1003
Ves always yearned to take possession of the Mech Designer System again despite its complex origin and hidden dangers. His time with the Mech Corps and Flashlight exposed him to so many dangers that he felt horribly inadequate at the challenges facing him. Improving his Attributes, acquiring new Skills and purchasing some life-saving talismans would go a long way in improving his odds for survival.
Yet now that it was just meters away from him, he did not even dare to glance at it even once!
It was too dangerous at the moment!
Even if he could make use of his personal comm's Privacy Shield and Stealth Augment to hide his form from electronic and biological monitoring, it would still raise too many alarms. In the worst case, the security guards stationed outside might barge in and inspect everyone's possessions!
Ves could not risk exposing the System, even indirectly!
Perhaps he could fool some standard monitoring systems and some normal security guards, but Leland had only just disappeared from the room! Considering how crafty and devious the Flashlight intelligence officer turned out to be, Ves could not rule out that he remained in this room under stealth or that dozens of analysts observed a live feed of the room at this very moment!
As the fake assassination attempt on him already proved, Ves should know better than to underestimate Flashlight!
Therefore, even though the temptation called out to him, Ves already resolved to leave the System alone for a while longer. While improving himself could make him stronger and increase his chances of survival, the opposite would happen if he carelessly showed off the System in front of Flashlight.
"Ves, Mr. Larkinson, I'm sorry." Calsie apologetically bowed. "I haven't managed to take good care of the Living Mech Corporation. Our debt burden has grown so large that we've had to take on new loans to pay off the old loans."
That sounded very bad. It meant the company hadn't been earning enough money to cover their short-term debt obligations. Rolling over debt like this only made the debt burden snowball into an even greater burden in the future.
Without an increase in earnings or a significant outside investment, the LMC would never be able to escape such a huge debt trap!
"You don't have to apologise." He replied gently. "I've already heard some of the details from Marcella Bollinger. You did the best you could under the circumstances and kept the company afloat. The debt that's piling up is just a sum of money. When I get back, I'll find a way to reduce the burden. For now, you should keep doing what you can to keep the company afloat."
He didn't tell her about how the Ministry of Economic Development would soon divest themselves from his business. The transfer of ownership would only take place after the war.
"Tell me a bit more about the business. Have sales recently spiked?"
Calsie smiled. "That's some very welcome news. I don't know what you and Marcella did, but all the media exposure has revitalized our sales. When word about your near-death and the scandals at the KNG became hot news recently, I made sure to pull out all the stops to advertise your connection to the LMC. Interest in our products have spiked and our sales volume has doubled! We're doing so well for the moment that we've increased our prices and stopped incurring more debts."
"That's good to hear."
"It's hard for a mech company to stand out in the market." She smiled bitterly. "We're really lucky that you stood out in the news, especially in such a good light. The veteran demographic has become some of our most important customers now, and I think their loyalty to our brand will endure the most."
Publicity raised interest, and interest led to increased sales. Yet playing around with publicity was a double-edged sword. Right now, with the help of the Bright Republic's propaganda machine, public opinion firmly stood on his side, but how long would that last? The next time Ves might show up on the news, it might cast him in a negative light instead!
Even though any publicity no matter how bad it sounded led to increased sales due to allowing his company to stand out from the crowd, Ves knew it would be difficult to keep the public interested.
Right now, Ves didn't believe he had the charisma necessary to form a cult of personality for the benefit of his company. Certain 'celebrity' mech designers easily drew attention from the media with their antics, thereby raising sales of their mechs like other celebrities raised the sales of the products they sponsored.
Even though Ves tasted the benefits of celebrity recently, he felt it would be a better idea to keep his head out of the clouds. In the end, the most reliable way to sell mechs was to keep designing good products. So long as his core business was sound, buyers would continue to purchase his mechs.
He said as much to Calsie. "Don't go too far with wild promotions, and don't try and rush production at the expense of quality. While it's important to make enough money to keep the company afloat for the next five years, it's very hard to regain our reputation for quality once we slip up. Focus on running a steady business instead of profiteering from the moment."
"Got it." She nodded.
The two discussed some more business decisions, but Ves only made an idle comment every now and then. He already resolved to overhaul the company's entire structure in the future once he returned. Therefore, while the current situation didn't sound very great, it at least ensured the company's stability in the short and medium term.
"How are the Avatars of Myth doing?" He asked.
"Melkor couldn't come as he is still needed to hold down the fort at the Mech Nursery." Calsie replied. "He's managed to raise a full company of mech pilots based around a core force of Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords. He's especially ecstatic about the latter."
"How about the spaceborn mech contingent? If I recall, the Avatars should have received the two light carriers that I've previously ordered."
Calsie's smile grew strained. "About that.. As money is rather tight lately, Melkor and I have decided it would be unwise to expand our mech roster. Right now, we've already hired more than forty mech pilots, but Melkor thinks it's better to hire and train some spares as private sector mech pilots can't be expected to be available for duty all the time like servicemen."
"Ah."
This was an important difference. Just because the Avatars of Myth hired forty mech pilots didn't mean that they could deploy all of them at the same time. They all received the same rights as every other mech pilot working in a private capacity, and that meant giving them plenty of off-time to spend with their families or on something else.
"That's a prudent decision. I approve." Ves nodded. "What about our ships, though?"
"Well, Fleet Commander Rofane who you've hired to take charge of our light carriers is quite pissed off that they're relegated to taxis for landbound mechs. He threatened to quit several times because he feels his abilities are going to waste."
Ves waved an indifferent hand. "Let him go if he wants to. You don't have to bend over backwards to retain him. We can always find someone else to lead the fleet."
They talked a little bit further before Ves became satisfied with the existing arrangements. The Avatars of Myth had already undergone a few scuffles since the war broke out as the Mech Nursery was an attractive, isolated war target to the BLM and the Vesians.
Yet the strength the Avatars showed surpassed the previous desperate defense effort against Lady Amalia's small raiding force.
Even though they numbered fewer mechs in total, the Avatars consisted entirely of either midrange or premium mechs. On top of that, all of the mech pilots that Melkor hired all possessed prior battle experience, with many of them even consisting of veterans.
While it was very expensive to retain so many well-trained mech pilots, their worth immediately became clear as the Avatars of Myth could easily leverage the fixed defenses of the Mech Nursery to repel twice the number of attacking mechs!
The cost of raiding the LMC's Mech Nursery thereby grew to such an extent that it formed a significant barrier against any plots to attack the manufacturing facility!
Once he finished talking to Calsie, Ves turned his attention to Ketis. "How have you been holding up all this time?"
"Pff." She snorted. "Civilized space is such a boring place. There's hardly anywhere to go for a good fight. Your spoilsport of a cousin Melkor even forbid me from bringing my greatsword outside! Says I threatened to chop up too many people! How else would I let others know I mean business?"
Ves smiled haplessly at her. "That's life in the Republic. Don't underestimate the amount of trouble you can get into if you get into a fight with someone. How is your mech design work going?"
"I'm bored. There's nothing to do at the LMC except to study your books. Nobody there wants me to design mechs for the company. They say I'm not good enough."
Ketis threw a stink eye at Calsie, probably resenting her for being one of the critics.
"They're all right." He said. "You still have a ways to go before you can become a qualified mech designer for the LMC. For now, why don't you practice with designing virtual mechs? That's how I used to practice my design skills. The LMC may not accept your designs, but it's different for virtual mechs."
She looked thoughtful at that suggestion. "I've heard of it but I never bothered with it before. Back in the frontier, it wasn't exactly easy to open a design account for those virtual mech simulator games."
"That won't be problem here. Did the Mech Trade Association add you to their membership rolls?"
"They did."
"Then that means you're already eligible."
"Really?"
Mayra didn't invest a significant amount of her fortune for nothing. While any crook could forge an identity on the fly, it took a lot more effort to construct one tight enough to endure a casual scrutiny from the MTA!
"Do yourself a favor, Ketis, and start getting some practice in. While designing virtual mechs is simplified in many ways from designing a real mech, you'll still be able to get the hang of the latter. Start with purchasing an existing virtual license of a good mech and play around from there. Right now, it's too much for you to design a mech from scratch."
Even though Ves disparaged mech designers that continued to stick to designing variants, it nonetheless offered an easy path to greater proficiency for starting mech designers. Right now Ketis desperately needed to flex her design skills while she was still young and malleable.
"By the way, Ves, Lucky here missed you too. Go give him a smooch!" Ketis said and threw the mechanical cat at Ves!
"Oof!"
Though Lucky landed on his healing chest with some force, causing him to utter out a cry.
"Meow!"
However, his irritation quickly faded as Lucky rubbed his cheek against his body. Ves truly missed his pet's company. He idly rubbed his companion's back with a smile, though he also did his best to avoid staring at the comm dangling around the neck.
"You didn't get into trouble lately, did you Lucky?"
"Meow." Lucky replied ambiguously while he continued to act cute.
Ves had a feeling that Lucky wasn't entirely being truthful in his answer, but it probably wasn't a big deal. Surely he couldn't have stirred up any major trouble on a quiet planet like Cloudy Curtain, could he?
"Did Lucky get up to any mischief while I wasn't there?"
"Not as far as I know, boss." Calsie shook her head. "He's been a great companion to me so far."
With Lucky's combat and observational abilities, he formed the best bodyguard to Calsie while she continued to lead the company. Seeing his cat faithfully follow his instructions on this matter made him feel relieved.
"Good. Make sure to keep a handle on him and don't let him wander around."
Chapter 1004
Due to the threats on his life and concerns about his recovery, Calsie and Ketis couldn't stay for long. They said goodbye shortly after and brought Lucky away as well.
Ves had mixed feelings seeing Lucky being brought away. Several times during the meeting, he continually wrestled with the temptation of accessing the System. It truly pained him to see it go out of reach like a drug addicts seeing his next fix taken away from him. In fact, the yearning he felt right now was so strong that he became aware of how unhealthy it was to fixate on the System!
"I'm not addicted!"
He shouldn't have lost his composure like that. Even though the System helped him out a lot, he was also painfully aware of its contentious past. Whether the fabled Metal Scroll truly existed or not, Ves did not want to become a convert to the beliefs of the Five Scrolls Compact and begin to worship the System as a god.
"I feel like I need some perspective."
Spending years without the System opened up his eyes to the life of normal mech designers. It was hard for them to improve themselves, but their experiences during their struggles shaped their design philosophy and strengthened their mentality.
Something obtained from his own efforts was much more rewarding than redeeming something from the System!
Ves predicted if he continued to use the System as his personal shopping mall, he would have eventually grown so dependent on its conveniences that he would have completely lost the heart to struggle.
Without a will to fight and improve against all odds, how could Ves ever hope to make the jump from Senior to Master? As omnipotent as the System appeared, the only knowledge it offered was settled science and insights that already existed.
If Ves advanced to Senior purely by the System's merit, he would have lacked the crucial practice and experience in improving himself and seeking out new innovations. How could such a lame an inauthentic Senior Mech Designer ever hope to develop his design philosophy into completely uncharted territory?
Therefore, Ves shouldn't be so hungry to make use of the System again! At best, he should regard it as a supplement to accelerate his mech design career. The entire way he approached the System previously needed to be completely changed.
His ultimate goal was to enable him to advance to Master on his own strength!
His other goal was to become less dependent on the System!
Therefore, instead of improving himself directly with the use of the System, he would rather gain the foundation that allowed him to improve through his own effort.
"Well, all of this is a consideration for the future. For now, there's no point thinking too far ahead." He muttered.
Now that the System fell firmly out of his reach, he stopped thinking about it and turned his attention to his immediate future. What would happen after the military hospital finished their treatments?
As nurses dropped by to feed him or attend to his needs, he kept asking them, only to receive an empty answer.
"I'm just a nurse, Mr. Larkinson. Someone else will decide on your next assignment."
These nurses truly knew nothing, so Ves stopped bothering them on this question. He actually felt a little discomfited at the lack of information flowing his direction. He could truly use a little clarity right now, but it appeared that the Mech Corps didn't bother with him during his month-long recovery period.
So Ves pretty much treated his stay at the hospital as a safe and uneventful reprieve from the war.
Two weeks after his first admittance, Ves recovered well enough to be able to exit his hospital room. Each day, his guards would lift him onto a hover chair and brought him outside his stuffy hospital room to get some fresh air and interact with the other patients.
He met plenty of recovering servicemen during these daily airing sessions. Some of them looked like important people and would always be accompanied by a pair of guards. Others turned out to be regular people who for some reason or another had been lucky enough to obtain their treatment at this premier facility.
Talking with these injured soldiers spiced up his days, and Ves always enjoyed chatting with them even if neither of them talked too much about their experiences.
To many of them, this recovery period offered them a much-needed vacation from the fighting! Therefore, they would rather talk about the latest matches of the mech games than how the fighting progressed at the frontlines.
It kind of felt like being back at the Larkinson Compound to Ves.
Aside from these idle interactions, the Mech Corps had been generous enough to loosen their visitor policy for him. This simple measure assured Ves somewhat that they still valued him to an extent.
Though her duties kept her very busy, Captain Melinda Larkinson tried to visit as often as she could.
Out at the rooftop courtyard of the main hospital building, Ves idly stared out at Dorum's cityscape. Melinda found him there and walked over to the side of his hover chair.
"Aren't you afraid someone will hack your chair and force it to fly over the ledge?"
"This chair is powerful enough to remain afloat. Even if it fails, I can still make use of an emergency antigrav module to stall or slow down my fall."
Besides, the guards standing behind his back would do their best to catch him in the air as well.
"Still, for someone who recently survived an assassination attempt, it's awfully reckless of you to tempt fate."
"You're right." Ves shrugged. "I'm just a bit too bored here. Let's go inside."
He commanded his hover chair to turn around and return to his hospital room.
Along the way, Melinda told him the reason of her visit today.
"I didn't come here just to check up on you. I'm here on behalf of the Larkinson Family."
"Family business, huh?" Ves muttered. "Did grandpa send you?"
"Yep. First, he told me to inform you that the family has been exerting their influence on your behalf. They managed to have some say in your next assignment. If everything falls into place, you'll probably be pulled out of Bentheim but won't be sent anywhere dangerous. It's not that hard to convince our allies that you've more than done your duty. The scandal at the KNG exposed similar kinds of rot in subsequent investigations in several other companies."
"Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrows. This was news to him. "They didn't mention any of that in the media."
"The Mech Corps doesn't want the news to spread around. Even the names of the companies involved is a secret. If all of their dirty laundry became exposed all at once, it would severely damage the public's confidence in the Mech Corps and our local mech industry."
"Shouldn't you keep your mouth shut in front of me if that's the case?"
"You're already cleared to know this much. Right now, my superiors at the Planetary Guard are very pleased with you for preventing the BLM from obtaining more military mechs. It's a shame we hadn't been able to stop it earlier. We don't know how many military mechs they got their hands on, but several mech regiments are already being pulled back to Bentheim to reinforce our defensive strength."
"I'm happy to be of service." He replied. "Tell grandpa I appreciate his efforts, though he doesn't have to work too hard on my behalf."
Melinda shook her head. "Even if his influence at the Ministry of Defense is limited, he can still rely on the Larkinson name to move some decision makers. To the Larkinson Family, your existence is vital. We don't want you exposed to any further danger. When you almost got killed, many of the old geezers at the Larkinson Compound practically jumped out of their skin! Without you, the LMC is worthless!"
"So all of their concern for me is about the money I bring in for the family, is that right?" Ves smiled sardonically. He should have known. "Well, you can reassure them that I have no intentions of ever getting shot through the chest again."
"That's good to hear, Ves. I'll be sure to pass on your completely sincere remark to the older Larkinsons." She chuckled. "Seriously, Ves, it's kind of crazy that a mech designer like you is exposed to so much danger. Is the Larkinson name and reputation giving you any trouble?"
He waved away her concern. "Nah. I'm fine. Don't worry."
"Anyway, aside from looking out for your interests at the Mech Corps, the Larkinsons have also discussed about the role the LMC will play to the family in the future. A lot people in our family are beginning to see the benefits of owning shares in such a rich and profitable company. They want to increase their involvement and send more Larkinsons and family retainers to come work for your company."
Ves shook his head. "Tell them I've received enough of their help for now. The company can stand on its own for now."
He already instructed Calsie to prevent such insertions as best as she could. While the Larkinsons probably considered the LMC as their family business, to Ves they didn't deserve that honor. It would have been a different story if they invested in him from the start, but only his father deserved his gratitude.
"The Larkinson elders won't like that answer."
"It's my company, not theirs. I decide how I run my company." Ves declared in a domineering manner. "You can tell the Larkinsons back home exactly who's in charge."
Melinda shrugged. She didn't care so much about the business aspect of the family. She was just a Planetary Guard officer, after all. "Whatever you say, Ves. Aside from that, they also offered to send some of our Larkinson mech pilots to bolster the ranks of your personal mech force."
Ves looked perplexed. "What? They actually want to send family members to make up part of the Avatars of Myth? What kind of Larkinsons are they planning to send me?"
"A mix of young and older mech pilots. For now, they only plan to send their old retired Larkinson mech pilots to bolster the training and elevate the quality of the people you've already hired. Once the war is over, some of the younger Larkinsons will probably want to settle down and leave the Mech Corps once they have the opportunity to resign from military service."
As a Larkinson, Ves knew quite well how much of a benefit it would be to employ a number of Larkinson mech pilots. Their foundation, steadiness, discipline and more all reached a very high standard!
While plenty of military mech pilots surpassed them in skill and experience, the most important fact was that mech pilots of their caliber were extremely hard to entice into joining a private force like the Avatars of Myth.
If Ves could employ just a dozen Larkinson mech pilots, then he could form an elite squad that could be relied upon to fight even under the direst circumstances!
Yet... such strength never came for free. Even if the Larkinson Family only wanted to place more Larkinsons around Ves and the LMC to safeguard their stake in the company, Ves did not know how he should feel about relying on the Larkinsons to form a part of his security.
"Let me think about it." He said, eventually deciding to punt on the decision. "Tell them that no matter who they send to the Avatars of Myth, it's my personal force. I won't allow any Larkinson to usurp control over the force I raised with my own funds. If any of the older Larkinson mech pilots aren't willing to follow my orders, then they shouldn't bother joining."
"Alright, Ves, I'll pass that on as well. Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. Having more family around will do you some good and reassure the Larkinsons that you have all the help you need whenever you or the company encounters trouble."
"I understand their concern, but I started my business away from Rittersberg for a reason."
As someone who joined the Bentheim Planetary Guard instead of the Mech Corps, Melinda understood his underlying reason. Still, she had her own opinion on the matter.
"You don't trust a lot of people, do you, Ves? You really ought to consider letting more family into your circle. Aren't you pleased with Melkor? Think of what you can do with ten more Larkinsons who are just as good if not better than him. There's no way you can run your entire enterprise alone. You need people you can trust to take care of issues on your behalf. Who better can you turn to besides your own family?"
That was a good question. Ves softened up a little.
Chapter 1005
The experiences that Ves went through recently severely eroded his confidence in trusting others.
When people like Leland who smiled in his face but ordered a member of the strike team to ruthlessly shoot him in the heart, how could Ves ever retain his innocence?
Hanging around a ruthless intelligence agency like Flashlight harshly taught him to never let down his guard. Trusting others completely was sheer folly.
Therefore, Ves already saw that he would have some issues when he returned to his business at the end of the war. How could he be comfortable with delegating responsibilities when there were so few people he could trust?
In a way, relying on family members instead of complete strangers served as a convenient solution. Even though most Larkinsons would only work for him and his company due to the desires of the Larkinson Family, they could still be helpful to Ves in holding down the fort.
Yet Ves did not wish to see his company turn into a family business. When family blood instead of competent and qualifications determined someone's position in the company, the LMC would eventually decline.
While family businesses brought some merits, Ves did not feel relieved at the thought of involving the Larkinsons even further.
Could he trust the Larkinsons enough to represent his interests?
Ves shook his head. If he answered that question right now, he would definitely answer no. As long as his answer remained the same, he would never be willing to hire more Larkinsons and allow them to extend their influence in his company.
The LMC was his property! Why should he work so hard to grow his company if he didn't feel a sense of belonging for it? Ves believed he obtained sufficient leverage and achievements to stand on his own. He had never relied on the Larkinson name to help him grow his business.
After Melinda left, Ves continued to spend his time in recovery. After multiple rounds of surgery, his body finally regained its stability. Although cloned tissue wouldn't immediately work as flawlessly as original tissue right at the start, time healed most of the differences. Ves wouldn't notice any discomfort after a few months, especially with his augmented physique.
The doctors who treated him constantly expressed their astonishment at his unique body state. The most troubling issue was that Ves couldn't prevent them from taking blood samples. He could only hope that a high-ranking member of the Five Scrolls Compact didn't break into the military hospital and seek out his blood samples and test them in person.
He snorted. "The odds of that happening is as large as the bright president coming here to cook dinner for me. There's no way that someone so important will personally do such a thing."
As far as he knew, the Flagrant Vandals and various hospitals already stored some samples of his blood. All of them formed potential risk factors, but Ves had no way to get them to destroy the samples without arousing suspicion.
Ves would probably have to advance to Senior or Master to be able to gain enough clout to get those institutions to destroy his blood. Even then, he couldn't guarantee that they would secretly fudge the request and sneak a couple of drops away for later study.
All in all, Ves did not feel very reassured about these loopholes.
As Ves continued to hold complex thoughts over various issues, he received another visitor at the tail end of his stay at the hospital. He already received word some days ago that he would soon be discharged and sent back to New Foundation V to report for his next assignment.
Surprisingly, of all the visitors he received so far, he never expected Raella to arrive.
"Why are you here?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Raella replied indignantly while pressing her fists against her waist. The bundle of flowers in her hand swayed in the air. "You let Melinda visit you every three days, but you're surprised that I'm paying a visit as well?"
"I'm sorry, Raella. I shouldn't have said something like that." Ves sighed. "I'm genuinely glad you dropped by. I'm just surprised security let you in considering your... association."
She smirked at him. "Heh. You know nothing, Ves. The Blood Claws may not be friends with the government, but we're quite friendly with the military. Part of the reason why we're tolerated is because we have pledged to defend Bentheim against the BLM and the Vesians. We've cooperated many times, you know? The Glowing Planet campaign is just one instance where we fought alongside each other."
That made a lot of sense. Ves nodded. "Okay. In that light, I guess the military doesn't have anything to fear from you. Besides, we're family."
As Raella settled down in his hospital room, they filled each other in on their recent experiences. Ves couldn't say too much except to express some overall feelings.
Raella on the other hand experienced a bit more excitement since the last time they met. "I've received the three Crystal Lords from your company. They've been very helpful for me. I've gifted all of them to three senior Blood Claws."
"Did you succeed in raising your status?"
"Yup!" She nodded with satisfaction. "I'm on the up-and-up. While I'm not a long-standing member of the organization, there's already talk of putting me in charge of something. I'm kind of borrowing your reputation to boost my importance. I hope you don't mind."
Ves knew he couldn't stop her from doing that. Besides, connecting Raella to him in the eyes of the Blood Claws benefited him a lot. "Go ahead as you don't implicate me to any of your shady business. Just remember that I'm primarily running a legitimate business. Make sure the LMC's mechs isn't involved in any massacres or something."
"Hey, the Blood Claws aren't that bad! We hardly ever fight for real. We've got enough rep on Bentheim that practically no one has enough guts to challenge us!"
It turned out that Raella hadn't come for business. She just wanted to get in touch again before the Mech Corps whisked him away. Ves felt touched by her concern. Despite her irritable exterior and her separation from the Larkinson Family, she still cared about family.
"Raella, can I ask you something?"
"What are you after? What are you working towards? Surely you don't want to fight in the underground arenas forever?"
She turned serious in response to his concern. "When I joined the Blood Claws as an underground mech athlete, I just wanted to prove my skills to the galaxy. I've fought a lot of duels and even if I didn't win all of them, I did manage to make it out alive. Still... you're right. I can't envision stepping into the dueling ring forever. I've been working on climbing up the ranks. It won't be easy, but I've got some advantages."
"The Larkinson name doesn't give you any trouble?" Ves questioned.
She shrugged. "Not as much as you think. It's mostly an advantage since they know I'm a good mech pilot due to my name. They aren't very apprehensive towards me. They don't fear any spies in their organization."
Ves didn't understand how the Blood Claws worked so he took her word for it. Raella wanted to live her life in her own way and Ves knew better than to attempt to temper her independent streak. That was how she separated from the Larkinson Family in the first place.
"You're very well informed of what goes on at Bentheim, right?"
"I'm not one of those strategic thinkers, Ves."
"Do you believe that Bentheim is being targeted?"
"Yup. Everyone who lives here can smell it. With all the recent stuff on the news, anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot."
That caused Ves to frown. Signs of an impending invasion would certainly impact ongoing trade at the port system. Even though the Vesians and the BLM hadn't launched their attack as of yet, the mere threat of it already inflicted incalculable economic damage to Bentheim!
"What are the Blood Claws going to do if an invasion actually happens?"
"We'll fight the good fight. It's what we do. Even if we don't have the best reputation, the Blood Claws considers Bentheim as their home. We'll defend it to our death!"
Raella sounded very sincere in this declaration. Ves looked at her with concern. Had the Blood Claws already worked their indoctrination on her? Hopefully she had better sense than that. Territory could be gained and lost at any time.
After a couple of minutes, she quickly left. They didn't have much in common and this wasn't the place where they could talk with ease.
As Ves watched her leave, he hoped that she would truly be able to survive long enough to be promoted out of the arena battles.
"I'm a decorated mech designer while Melinda is already Planetary Guard captain. Scores of other Larkinsons have distinguished themselves in battle and gained promotions. Raella better not be falling behind."
His current generation not only grew older, but were being baptized by the current war. Some of them thrived and gained greater status while others never distinguished themselves as much as they expected.
However, not every Larkinson would be able to survive. Too many of them returned home in coffins, both filled and empty ones, as a testament to the random vagaries of war.
Although neither Raella nor Melinda joined the Mech Corps, their current positions also exposed them to significant threats. The fact that both of them worked on Bentheim potentially put them right at the frontlines of the big battle between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom!
A few days after Raella stopped by, the military hospital finally saw fit to discharge him. Once he ended his stay there, an armored shuttle quickly picked him up and brought him straight into the sky and into orbit.
"Where are we going?" He asked one of the guards stationed in the shuttle.
"We can't say, Mr. Larkinson. We only received orders to accompany you to Foundation V." The guard stoically replied.
Ves couldn't figure out why he needed to report to Foundation V in person. Couldn't he have received his new transfer orders via his comm or a messenger?
Perhaps the Mech Corps intended to assign him somewhere closer to the seat of their power. In any case, it was useless for Ves to speculate.
The armored shuttle slowly docked at a military space station, whereupon his guards quickly shuffled him out. After a lengthy walk through the space station, they finally marshalled him onto a military convoy vessel.
Ves didn't pay much attention when the ship separated from the space station and joined a convoy before transitioning into FTL towards the Rittersberg region.
With all the stops on the way, it would take around three weeks at minimum to complete the trip. Along the way, Ves had very little to do aboard the vessel.
Fortunately, nothing of note happened during the entire trip. This far in Republic territory, the Vesians never threatened the local shipping lines.
While it was a little awkward for him to spend his time with guards watching every move he made, he quickly got used to their presence.
Considering the recent attempt on his life, he shouldn't be surprised at the security measure.
It just made things a bit more difficult when he visited the toilet. The stupid guards received strict orders to never leave him out of sight even for a single instant!
Therefore, it was safe to say that he never enjoyed a relaxing bathroom break.
"Goddamnit. Don't you two have any sense of shame?"
The two men remained silent underneath their enclosed helmets.
"I hope you enjoyed the view." Ves muttered spitefully before stomping away from the bathroom.
The pervasive guard presence irritated him even as he acknowledged their necessity. After his actions on Bentheim, the BLM would surely put him back in their crosshairs!
This was also why the Mech Corps pulled him out. Remaining there posed too much of a risk for him, and the power of the BLM drastically weakened the closer he got to Rittersberg.
Ves only wondered what the Mech Corps had in store for him next.
Chapter 1006
The New Foundation System bustled with traffic. Just like the last time Ves visited this strategic defensive bulwark, large amounts of carriers, transports, cargo haulers and more vessels traveled in and out of the system.
"As if it is a single part in a giant machine called the Bright Republic's war effort."
With an impending attack on the Bentheim System looming over the horizon, the Mech Corps scrambled as much mechs and resources they could spare to reinforce their critical port system and the ultimate goal the Vesians claimed to fight for. Once the Bright Republic lost the Bentheim System, their fates would be doomed!
The Vesians already possessed two port systems, so if they received the third and most strategically-placed one, they would hold absolute dominance over all the trade that flowed through their region of space!
The economic prosperity of both states would see such a marked divergence that the Bright Republic would definitely succumb in the next war!
Therefore, even if the Brighters believed the threat might be a ruse to lure the Mech Corps away from defending other strategic star systems, they simply couldn't afford to neglect Bentheim's defense.
If Ves studied the troop disposition in the New Foundation System a bit deeper, he might discover the absence of a few elite mech regiments that ordinarily guarded several important facilities of the Mech Corps.
The military supply ship separated from the convoy after arrival. The vessel travelled to the inner system and went through a number of checks before being allowed to dock at a space station orbiting New Foundation V.
Once Ves disembarked from the ship, his guards guided him through the clean but upscale interior of the Spindle Station. Instead of sending him to a shuttle heading down the surface, they instead guided him towards an office compartment aboard the station.
They deposited him outside the hatch leading into the office of a high-ranking officer.
"Please wait here, Mr. Larkinson." One of the guards said. "Lieutenant Colonel Xelven will see you soon."
An unfamiliar name. Ves never heard of this figure before, but his high rank made Ves rather apprehensive. Why was he taken here? What did the Mech Corps want from him this time?
Though he figured the Mech Corps wanted to station him away from Bentheim due to his high profile, why did bring him all the way back to New Foundation V?
Ves waited quietly outside the office for over half an hour. Twenty minutes into his wait, someone else arrived and sat on the row of chairs placed in the corridor to accommodate waiting visitors.
The newcomer appeared garbed in a typical outfit for government officials. The man glanced at Ves and immediately took in his mech designer service uniform and his ribbons, both of which replaced his older, destroyed ones.
"Ves Larkinson! What a pleasure to meet you!"
This wasn't the first time Ves got that kind of greeting. With his face plastered over the news throughout the entire Republic, Ves had somehow joined the ranks of famous Larkinsons that many people recognized by sight.
Though he became kind of irritated by these kinds of encounters, Ves still returned a polite smile. "In the flesh. And you are?"
"Preston Lowe. I serve as a secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
That caught Ves' attention. Did Preston Lowe's presence have anything to do with his next assignment?
"Oh? What does a secretary do at MinFA?"
"I assist ambassadors and head of missions in performing their diplomatic functions." Preston said proudly. "The Bright Republic has exerted much effort over the years to keep the neighboring states placated. The Coman Federation and the Independent State of Pillis are especially vexing to communicate with. Reaching a common understanding with people who possess a vastly different viewpoint than us is very challenging, but necessary towards our survival."
As Preston bragged on a bit further, Ves realized that Preston merely served as an assistant to a real diplomat. Even so, his job often saw him arranging meetings, drafting important documents and tending to the needs of visiting high officials.
In other words, he must have seen a lot during his work.
"I must say, Mr. Larkinson, I'm still surprised to see you here. You have made quite a splash at Bentheim. Although considering what is in the works, perhaps your presence here does make sense. You are certainly more eye-catching than other mech designers."
"Do you know what this is all about?"
"I have some clues, but it is not my place to tell." Preston smiled coyly.
Ves did not have to wait for long because the hatch to Xelven's office slid open. After another official type walked out, a voice called for Ves to enter.
"After you." Preston said with a smile.
Once he entered the office, Ves saw that the desk on the other side was empty. Instead, he encountered two people sitting at some comfortable seats next to a coffee table.
One man appeared to be Lieutenant Colonel Xelven. The man sat next to a vaguely familiar official.
"We meet again, Mr. Larkinson. Please sit over here."
He finally recalled where he saw the man. This was Alistair Cordwraith, one of Senator Tovar's execute assistants!
"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Cordwraith."
Ves sat down on the opposite side of the coffee table. A cup of specialty tea had already been prepared for him, and for the sake of politeness, he grabbed the cup and took a sip.
Bland. While Ves vaguely tasted a complex blend of tastes, he would have rather added some sweetener to make it taste less like plain water.
"Are you enjoying your tea?" Colonel Xelven asked. "Don't answer that, I can tell you have no idea of the value of what you are drinking."
That reassured Ves a bit. Xelven seemed to be a straight shooter. "I would prefer it if we could move on to business, sir."
"Ah yes. We've recalled you from Bentheim rather hastily I'm told. It's a bit serendipitous but your recovery period has given us a good excuse to employ you in a lighter capacity than the job you held before."
That puzzled Ves. A mech designer working as a liaison for the Mech Corps already held one of the least demanding positions imaginable.
For some reason, he thought this might have something to do with Senator Tovar.
Mr. Cordwraith smiled and put down his tea cup on the saucer. "Colonel Xelven exaggerates somewhat. Let me start at the beginning. Do you recall the outcome of your last mission? The help you have given us has significantly strengthened Senator Camden Tovar's stature within the diplomatic community of the Komodo Star Sector. So much so that Tovar has hatched an ambitious plan that will change the very fate of the Bright Republic!"
This sounded rather preposterous to Ves. Senator Tovar hadn't even enjoyed his new lease of life for long and already he was throwing around his weight like he was a four-hundred year old relic?
Then again, what did Ves knew of high society.
"The Bureau of Sector Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has worked closely with Senator Tovar to see if his plan is feasible." Cordwraith continued. "Surprisingly, some of our foreign counterparts are quite receptive to the possibilities, so we have agreed to meet and hold clandestine talks at a neutral state. Ah, that is all I can reveal to you at this time. You will have to sign some non-disclosure agreements before we can discuss any further."
Ves looked confused. "Could you please enlighten me why I am involved? I do not have a background in diplomacy so I fail to see why I'm being told of such a development."
"Senator Tovar personally asked for you to be part of his diplomatic mission for the upcoming talks." Xelven said plainly. "While Senator Tovar is appointed by the Republic to represent the interests of our state, it would be rather undignified to send him out alone. He will need secretaries and aides to take care of the details and provide expert opinion. As a distinguished mech designer with several notable accomplishments under your belt, you are uniquely suited to represent the interests of the Mech Corps and the Republic as one of our technical attachés."
This sounded rather fishy. Ves frowned deeply. "To be frank, sir, I am not entirely certain that my presence will benefit the diplomatic mission. I do not have the knowledge or experience required to be of any use for high-level diplomatic talks."
"Your presence alone is enough of a boon." Cordwraith said. "Another Senior Mech Designer has already agreed to be the principal technical attaché of the delegation, so you are not expected to shoulder any onerous duties."
Cordwraith and Xelven left most unmentioned, but Ves could read a bit between the lines. Hearing that another Senior Mech Designer would already be present to do the actual work, Ves figured his presence served a completely different role.
Likely, Senator Tovar caught mention of Ves in the news in recent times and figured that he'd be a great addition to the mission.
His goal in the delegation wasn't to extend his technical expertise. Instead, they wanted Ves to show up in full dress and wear his eye-catching medals to impress the other party!
It galled Ves a bit when he figured this out. Senator Tovar was far too meddlesome for his own good. Who wanted to be used as a parade horse?
However, Ves had to admit he also grew a bit curious at what the reinvigorated senator planned to accomplish with these secret talks. He felt as if this invitation was an opportunity to witness something that could result in a drastic change of the war situation!
From the looks of it, Mr. Cordwraith and Colonel Xelven did not expect no for an answer. When someone as important as Senator Tovar called, nobody in their right mind would slight him and refuse.
While Ves did not want to be involved with the Tovar Family at all, this mission sounded as if it involved the entire Republic instead of just a single founding family.
Although the risks did not sound very small, the curiosity and the desire to experience something new and exciting pushed him to accept his new mission.
Ves closed his eyes for a moment. "I accept. What do I have to sign?"
"Great!" Colonel Xelven dug out a data pad and placed it on the coffee table. "Please sign the documents on the pad."
As Ves picked up the pad, he skimmed over the documents before signing each of them. All of them contained the usual thick legalese that spoke of dire punishment should Ves ever spill out secrets and so on. Everything looked standard and nothing gave out any details on his next assignment.
Once Ves finished signing the paperwork, Colonel Xelven took the data pad back and handed over a small box.
"This is for you."
Ves opened the box to see that it held two brand new medals.
"For your meritorious service on Bentheim, the Mech Corps has seen fit to bestow you with the Mech Corps Distinguished Service Medal. In addition, for the injuries you've suffered while in the line of duty, you are also awarded with the Vermillion Heart."
While Colonel Xelven made it sound as if the Mech Corps already intended to bestow the medals to him, Ves couldn't help but be suspicious at the timing. Did he only receive these rewards after agreeing to get on board the mission because they wanted to pad him up with extra awards?
He refrained from shrugging. Whatever. He wouldn't say no to more medals even if it played into Senator Tovar's political interests.
"Am I finally allowed to know what this diplomatic mission is all about, colonel?" He asked.
Colonel Xelven adopted a severe tone. "What I'm about to tell you is highly classified. The documents you've just signed aren't just a courtesy. They are vitally necessary to maintain the confidentiality of Senator Tovar's aim. The controversy alone if word of his plan leaks out might be enough to topple the current administration!"
This sounded incredibly serious! Ves gulped. "Who are we negotiating with?"
"We intend to hold peace talks with a royal delegation from the Vesia Kingdom. We want to bring the war to an early end!"
The news utterly stunned Ves. Tovar wanted to negotiate an end to the war two years early from the end of the previous wars! This was a huge bombshell that came with huge implications to both sides!
Chapter 1007
Ves still hadn't recovered from the explosive news. Both Cordwraith and Xelven found his shock to be amusing.
"This is.. incredibly ambitious, sir!" He uttered.
He didn't say this without a reason! Both sides accumulated an incredible amount of grievances, and while both sides started to tire from the fighting, they hadn't bottomed out their reserves yet!
As long as either side could still fight on, they would definitely continue to press on! Only until attrition sapped the strength and fighting will of both Mech Corps and the Mech Legion did the war finally end.
In every previous war, it usually took at least four years to reach that point. While both sides could still fight a while longer with what reserves they still managed to muster, it wouldn't be good for either of them to exhaust all of their fighting forces. That only left them vulnerable to the preying of the neighboring states.
While many people yearned for the war to be cut short, nobody actually thought that it could be accomplished. Too many people wanted to fight. Powerful interest groups in both states eagerly wished to gain accomplishments in the war to fuel their domestic ambitions. This was especially egregious among the Vesian nobles!
Therefore, Ves could not figure out how the Vesians would ever agree to an early peace.
Mr. Cordwraith laid out some of the calculus behind the seemingly impossibly early peace talks pioneered by Senator Tovar.
"The highest authorities of the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom recently came in the possession of alarming information that makes it detrimental for us to continue to fight against each other. To our surprise, the royal family of the Kingdom has responded positively to our overtures and are willing to come to the negotiating table to explore the possibility to end the war within the year."
The royal family? Wasn't that a joke in the Kingdom? "Will the royal family be able to represent the entire state?"
"Good question." Cordwraith smirked. "I understand your skepticism, but we all have to start somewhere. Despite what the common people believe, the Vesian royals aren't toothless. We believe that they are capable enough to sway some of the powerful duchies on their side."
This sounded like a contentious matter. If the royals wanted to negotiate an early end to the war, they needed to offer something attractive enough to the nobles to get them to agree with the early peace.
If the Vesians didn't receive enough concessions, then an early peace would be too hard to swallow for them. They'd rather continue the fight if that was the case! Vesian nobles were so disunited that the only way to get them on the same page was to offer them rich rewards!
On the other hand, if the Bright Republic bled too much to obtain this peace, Senator Tovar and all the other advocates of peace would lose all of their support and credibility! The Bright Republic did not spend countless lives over the centuries to defend against Vesian aggression only to succumb and concede a large amount of territory to the scum!
All in all, Ves currently saw no hope that these talks would ever be able to succeed, yet what did he know? Mr. Cordwraith and Senator Tovar probably knew a lot of secrets and other information that might have led them to believe this deal had a chance to actually go through.
Someone as small as Ves wouldn't be privileged to know that sort of information. No, his job was merely to look impressive and pretty at the sides while the real adults held their discussions.
Still, this might be an interesting and unique experience for him. Unfortunately, it also came with some risks according to Colonel Xelven.
"Make no mistake, Mr. Larkinson. Part of the reason for the confidentiality is because various influences and factions in both states deeply wish to keep fighting. They are not above playing tricks if that is what it takes to end Senator Tovar's initiative. While I'm not able to estimate the danger level, this will not be a problem-free assignment, do you understand?"
Ves nodded. "I understand, sir."
It seemed like he wouldn't be getting the cushy rear assignment he hoped for. Still, to be part of a bold initiative to end the war sooner than everyone else expected was a noble cause. Even if Senator Tovar of all people tried to accomplish it, that did not set aside his own desire to end the senseless bloodshed.
"While we do not expect too much from you, we do not intend for you to remain idle while we are holding the talks." Mr. Cordwraith said. "An important aspect about any negotiation of this nature is to charm our counterparts and attempt to reach a common understanding. Someone with a colorful background as yours will attract quite some attention."
This made Ves feel a little nervous. "I'm supposed to woo the Vesian delegation?"
"Not so strongly, but we do hope you can hit it off with a Vesian or two. By befriending some the Vesians, we might be able to employ you as a backchannel to conduct some secret talks, or we might be able to add some clauses to the peace treaty that contains some cooperative aspects."
Ves didn't quite understand how that worked. "Is that really possible?"
"The best deals are made when both sides hit it off. It's easier to agree to terms with friends rather than enemies. By doing your part in befriending the Vesians, the odds of success grow slightly more optimistic. Even then, the probability that our talks end well enough to agree to the terms of a peace treaty is only fifty percent at most."
In other words, nobody knew if what they attempted would ever bear fruit.
"Is that all my role extends to?" Ves frowned. He hardly knew how to approach such a strange demand.
"For now, we do not expect anything else from you, Mr. Larkinson." Colonel Xelven shrugged apologetically. "The upcoming talks are highly controversial and if anyone gets wind of it, the chance they might attack is very real. We cannot afford to bring along too many critical individuals to the peace talks, but neither can we bring along a hollow delegation. The Vesians might suspect our sincerity. It is already enough of a risk for us to invite a crucially important Senior Mech Designer. Sending you in place of a second Senior will not do our delegation too much of a disservice."
Because Ves earned a lot of prestigious awards. This was what Ves amounted to. A poor replacement for a second Senior Mech Designer.
If the peace talks ever went awry, the Bright Republic would incur a lot of losses if Senator Tovar died. If a Senior Mech Designer died as well, the pain would be almost unbearable. If they lost another Senior on top of that, then the criticism that resulted from this botched attempt to end the war would result in a huge backlash!
Therefore, those who supported the initiative wanted to hedge their bets and send out as few core people as possible without presenting a weak front to the Vesians.
Even though Ves became famous recently, his fall would not impact the Republic substantially. Compared to the pain of losing a Senior, the loss of a single Apprentice hardly mattered.
Both Cordwraith and Xelven made it clear to Ves that he should leverage his fame and his accomplishments to go on some sort of charm offensive. All of this would take place in an informal setting outside of the formal peace talks.
While Ves still held a lot of questions, this wasn't the time to ask them. According to what he heard, this delegation had been set up on short notice, but everyone needed to move quickly. The longer they lingered here, the higher the chance the hostile factions might find out about the initiative!
Colonel Xelven motioned his hand in dismissal. "A fleet has already been prepared for departure. You'll be brought to another star system and be transferred to a disguised civilian trade convoy where you will get to meet the other members of the delegation."
Eventually, Ves walked out of the office in a daze. Preston Lowe got called up next and he enthusiastically entered the office for his own meeting with Mr. Cordwraith and Colonel Xelven.
"This is a bit abrupt."
The guards that previously accompanied him already disappeared. They wouldn't be a part of this mission.
After fiddling with his comm, he followed the route to his next berth. Eventually, he entered a nondescript convoy vessel which carried supplies to a far-flung star system near the borders of the state.
As the ship joined a convoy that went on its way, Ves enjoyed an uneventful time. Two weeks passed by as Ves remained in isolation in order to reveal as little of his presence as possible.
At the end of the route, they emerged at a sparsely populated star system where a handful of ships and mechs awaited their arrival.
Ves transferred to a modestly-sized passenger ship called the Felicitous Remembrance. While outwardly the Remembrance resembled a run-of-the-mill vessel for long transits across states, he recognized many expensive alloys that invisibly strengthened her structural integrity.
While the Remembrance would never be able to match the resilience of a combat carrier, she came respectably close! It would be no problem for this supposed civilian vessel to survive a few direct hits!
Signs of understated luxury also suggested that a lot of money had been invested in the Remembrance. From handmade sculptures to fresh exotic flowers, the luxury aboard this vessel seemed designed to cater to a sophisticated taste.
After undergoing a brief introduction, he met up with Mr. Cordwraith right outside the biggest stateroom of the Remembrance.
"Senator Tovar wishes to see you in person." The executive assistant told him as he eyed Ves' current service dress uniform. "I see you are already wearing your new ribbons. Good. You can go in now."
Ves entered a luxuriously furnished stateroom that took up way too much space than necessary to accommodate a single passenger. He ignored the astonishing sights and instead walked up to the statesman, who appeared to be engrossed in studying a star map of the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom.
Dozens of star systems at the border blinked red, signifying their takeover by the Vesians. The Bright Republic still held their ground somewhat, but the red thrust aiming straight towards Bentheim appeared incredibly alarming!
Ves realized that it was highly inappropriate for him to study this map. This was because it conveyed the current state of the war as well as high-level status updates of each ongoing battle taking pace at this very moment!
"Ahem." He awkwardly coughed, trying to get the vigorous old man's attention. "You called, senator?"
The senator still studied the map without acknowledging his presence.
Ves considered whether he should come closer, but the security guards standing unobtrusively at the sides began to twitch when he took a step.
He halted. "Senator?"
Nothing. Apparently, Ves needed to wait until Camden Tovar finished whatever he was doing right now. It reminded Ves of his intensive design moods where he put his full concentration on designing the best mech that could match his vision.
Was Senator Tovar doing something similar right now? Did he construct a vision of the future, and was he attempting to design a framework for the peace talks that could make his vision come true?
It sounded ridiculous, but right now Ves thought the analogy to be remarkably apt.
The stakes were incredibly high for the upcoming peace talks. The person responsible for bringing this initiative into motion shouldered a huge burden.
Yet just like a motivated mech designer, Senator Tovar believed he could engineer a solution even if no one else believed it was possible!
Ves admired that courage! Seeing how the senator put his full mind and effort to this upcoming task gave him hope that the peace talks might actually stand a decent chance of success!
Chapter 1008
"Ah, Ves Larkinson. You've arrived." Senator Tovar abruptly said as he turned his gaze away from the detailed star map. The projection instantly winked out at a single gesture of his hand. "I must say, you have proven to be a pleasant surprise to me. I never expected you to be able to set off the KNG Affair as it has become known. Perhaps I misjudged a bit. You seem to be a better fit for Flashlight than I realized."
"Ah, you know about my association with Flashlight, sir?" Ves widened his eyes.
Tovar smirked at him. "I know many things. As far as Flashlight goes, their goals partially align with mine. The ripple effects of the KNG Affair serves as a shot across the bow to the rent seekers and profiteers within the Republic that they should serve the state more sincerely."
Ves suddenly realized that Flashlight might be more intricately connected to Camden Tovar than he initially thought. Could he be in charge? That didn't seem likely. The other founder families would never let a single rival take charge of the powerful and largely unchecked military intelligence agency.
Even if Senator Tovar might not call the shots at Flashlights, his informal ties to the infamous agency alone gave him a sufficient amount of influence and access!
All the rules about keeping Flashlight confidential didn't apply to the powerful senator! Compared to the nobles of the Vesia Kingdom, Senator Tovar possessed influence comparable to a duke that ruled over an entire territory in an almost autonomous fashion!
The Tovar Family was pretty much a noble house in all but name, one that held a lot of the levers of powers within the Republic.
Ves saw an opportunity there. Since he was already meeting face-to-face with one of the most powerful politicians of the Republic, why not take advantage of that and express some of his opinions? Since Senator Tovar looked at him favorably, he didn't see the harm in trying.
"The KNG Affair is just the tip of the iceberg, sir." Ves stated bolded. "What happened at the KNG is probably happening in many other mech companies as well. I understand the military depends on their production capacity to supply them with mechs, but not every company is as diligent in safeguarding their military production."
Senator Tovar raised an eyebrow at him, as if he was amused at Ves' transparent lobbying attempt. "A panel has already been convened to entertain suggestions on how to improve the current processes to prevent a repeat."
"I've heard about that, sir, but most of the people who joined the panel are business owners and high-ranking mech officers. I'm not questioning their competence, but they are similar to Mrs. Kadar and Mr. Neyvis who let something happen right underneath their noses for several years!"
"What are you suggesting then, Ves?"
"It's strange that the previous liaison mech designers assigned to oversee the KNG's military production hadn't spotted a clue. They've grown far too comfortable with their jobs."
Senator Tovar frowned. "I have little say over how the Mech Corps assign and instruct their liaison mech designers."
In other words, certain powerful people wanted the position of liaison to continue to be used to place well-connected mech designers far away from the frontlines. By allowing them to supervise the military production of a company based in Bentheim, they could spend most of their time visiting coffee shops during the day and partying at various nightclubs during the night.
Since Tovar implied that he wouldn't be able to change this corrupt mechanism, Ves took a step back and provided an alternative suggestion. "Oh I'm sure that most liaison mech designers are already.. busy. Considering the large amount of responsibilities that liaisons need to fulfill, why not provide them with an aide or two? Involving more people ensures that all of the work that needs to be done will be addressed in a timely fashion."
"I don't think adding more mech designers will solve the problem."
"Then don't assign mech designers to the liaisons. Instead, why not draw upon professionals with plenty of technical expertise? They don't need to be chief technicians. Any mech technician with an abundant amount of experience working in large mech workshops or manufacturing complexes will do, sir."
The senator took his words seriously. "That is a remarkably insightful suggestion. I can see the merit in this proposal, even if the Mech Corps will abhor having to make new procedures to implement it. I'll take it up with a member of the panel later."
"Thank you, sir. I'm just doing my part for the Republic."
"Hahaha!" Tovar laughed. "This is the kind of drive I like to see! You are a credit to your family. You Larkinsons have always remained loyal to the Republic, and although it is a pity that your predecessors have never entered the political arena, perhaps you might be the first to step inside the ring."
Ves smiled nervously at that. "I appreciate your compliments, sir, but I am firmly committed to running business."
"Prudent choice. Well, you can't have everything." Tovar shook his head. "Let us move on to business. Has my assistant brought you up to speed?"
"Yes. He informed me that you are appointed by the government to head a delegation to meet with the Vesians to negotiate a possible end to the war."
"You are correct, but not entirely." Tovar said. "While I do carry official sanction, only a small portion of the government is aware of my mission. We cannot allow the skeptics, naysayers and warmongers to find out about this attempt because they will do their best to stop us from succeeding."
"Pardon me for my skepticism, but can it actually be done, sir?"
Senator Tovar crossed his arms. "You won't be so skeptical once you obtain the full picture. Both the Republic and the Kingdom has better things to do than to let the current war run its course. It's incredibly destructive and it will take far too long for us to regain our strength. Even if I can convince my Vesian counterpart of the necessity to end the war, too many institutions are opposed to a premature peace. It is the role of our delegation to find common ground with the Vesians."
"What is my role in this? I've heard from Mr. Cordwraith that my presence would be helpful somehow, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit in this kind of setting."
"The diplomats and I will take care of the formal diplomacy. The attachés we are bringing along will sometimes be called to lend their expertise to us, but they are also charged with bonding with the Vesian attachés. Due to your peculiar status, you are very well suited for the latter duty."
Ves wanted to sigh. "I'll do my best, but could you give me some advice? I don't have a good picture of what I'm supposed to be doing. It would help me a lot to hear what you expect from me, sir."
Although Senator Tovar looked a little bit irritated, he nonetheless took the time to answer.
"You are expected to interact with the members of the Vesian delegation on a regular basis. Most of them will consist of Vesians aligned to the royal family, so they are not as clannish as the Vesians who have pledged their loyalty to the dukes. Try and see if you can't befriend their mech designers. We will also welcome any other friendships. The more, the merrier. Once you build up a rapport with the Vesians, report back to us and we'll make use of your personal ties to suggest some collaborative projects."
"I see, sir."
Ves did not look very hopeful that any sort of collaboration could take place between the two bitterly hostile states. In fact, he heard quite enough. He just wanted to get out of the same compartment as this old fossil and get this entire mission over with as soon as possible.
As for making friends with Vesians? He'll see.
Unfortunately, the old man did not dismiss him just yet. "Let us take a seat."
They both moved over to his desk. As the senator took a seat behind the desk, he began to sink his chair and lose himself in the sensation.
"Ah. I have never felt so comfortable in my long life. I really have to thank you again for helping me rejuvenate my life and regain some of my physical prime."
"I was merely doing my duty, sir."
"Tell me, what do you think of the current state of the Bright Republic's mech industry?"
Oh boy. Ves had a lot of opinions about that, but he wasn't sure it would be wise to voice them all to Senator Tovar. Besides, why did the old man bring this up?
"I think the Bright Republic has a strong market." Ves said. "Our mech designers are sensible and while many of us fail in our businesses, those who succeed are able to compete against some of the best commercial mech models for sale in the entire star sector."
Tovar nodded in agreement. "Business is a battlefield. It is no less bloody than the actual fighting at the frontlines. We are not in the habit of raising flowers in a greenhouse. I am sure that an entrepreneur such as you experienced difficulties in trying to compete against all the high-quality foreign mechs for sale in our domestic market, but it is only through opening the gates that we are able to develop strong mechs."
"The proportion of mech sales that originate from domestic producers is a bit low, in my opinion." Ves said carefully. "Even the companies headed by our Senior Mech Designers do not always enjoy great success in competing against the mainstream mech models peddled by the enormous trans-galactic enterprises."
"That is a valid criticism, but a little hardship does them a lot of good. We can't make our Seniors feel too comfortable. They already enjoy a lot of renown in the Republic. Do you know that many of them have graduated from Ansel?"
"The Ansel University of Mech Design is the best institution to study mech design in the Republic." Ves stated.
"Yet a talented mech designer like you emerged from the Rittersberg University of Technology." Tovar suddenly poked, striding into dangerous territory for Ves. "Strange, that. Your academic records doesn't suggest that you possess the ability that you have shown shortly after your graduation. Yet inexplicably you've managed to rise like a rocket, to the point of gaining the acknowledgement of a young Master Mech Designer of the Friday Coalition."
Ves knew that the early parts of his career always served as a huge anomaly to anyone reading his record. He couldn't provide a good explanation for his rapid improvement. It wasn't as if he could mention the System as the reason for his sudden rise!
"Rittersberg may not enjoy the best reputation, but the professors there are all proper mech designers who have instilled the right mindset and values to their students. I'm eminently grateful for them to have shaped my perspective on mech design in a sober fashion. As for my later achievements, the financial difficulties my father's absence imposed upon me has forced me to work hard and study harder than I have ever done so before."
That was pretty much a nonsense answer, and Ves figured Senator Tovar wouldn't be fooled at all by his words.
The senator indeed gave him a sharp glance, but didn't go into it further. "Very strange, yes, but the success you've achieved in your business career has paved the way for your subsequent achievements in your service to the Republic! I am very grateful for that. Mech designers like you prove that Ansel does not hold a monopoly on producing the best mech designers of the Republic."
"Any school can produce a talented mech designer." Ves stated. "I think that most lack opportunities after they graduate. The mech industry are all too willing to invest in the business ventures of Ansel graduates even if they are average while they completely neglect graduates from my own alma mater despite their excellent academic results."
Even an abberrantly competent mech designer like Patricia moved to the Friday Coalition for some reason.
"Your words have merit. Ansel is too powerful. Worse, this school is intricately tied to Bentheim."
The senator shook his head. "Alas, breaking a school where most of our Senior Mech Designers have come from is an impossible dream. This is also the greater problem with mech designers, you see. Too many of our influential mech designers are rooted in Bentheim. You're a rare exception to the rule. Not only did you study at Rittersberg, your extended family is also based there. And while your mech company is highly involved with Bentheim, you've cleverly set the foundation of your company a star system away."
Ves figured that Senator Tovar was attempting to drive at something by these remarks. "You think too highly of me, sir. I was just making the best business choices at the time."
Tovar smiled speculatively at Ves.
Chapter 1009
Ves exited Senator Tovar's magnificent stateroom in confusion. The conversation took a strange direction at the end, and he couldn't quite figure out the old man's intentions.
He did figure out one thing, though. The senator's interest in him had increased, and Ves did not know whether that was good or bad. As much as he benefited from having a powerful backer within the government, he had no illusion that the senator truly valued him more than a useful tool.
As a mech designer, Ves worked with various tools. "A good tool is hard to find, but I won't cry if it breaks. I'll just get a replacement."
He witnessed various instances of leaders sacrificing others for their own purposes. From Calabast using up the lives of her operatives to Senator Tovar treating the 6th Flagrant Vandals as a gambling stake to win the jackpot of his life, powerful people did not shy away from sacrificing the lives of their subordinates to get what they wanted.
Even so, the people working under them did not get a raw deal. They remained in service for a reason. Often, they received rich rewards and their families would get taken care of. Loyal service to a powerful individual or organization allowed someone to elevate their own station and build up a path towards a better future.
Having witnessed what really went on among the various rivalling government institutions such as Flashlight and the Ministry of Economic Development, Ves began to think it was unavoidable for him to remain uninvolved in politics.
For now, Ves managed to obtain Flashlight's recognition and backing. Yet Flashlight possessed a substantial if ambiguous connection to Senator Tovar. This basically meant that Ves might have inadvertently joined the camp of the Tovar Family without even realizing it before he actually met with the old man again!
"Damn!"
This might have been one reason why Senator Tovar diverted some of his valuable time to meet with Ves in person. The senator thought he was welcoming someone who aligned with the Tovar Family!
Ves shook his head. "Well, it's not as if the senator is skimpy on his rewards."
He patted his chest where two extra ribbons joined his previous collection. It was almost inconceivable for a mech designer to earn these awards. Carrying them certainly impressed the citizens of the Bright Republic, yet would the Vesian delegation feel the same?
He still didn't even receive a clear picture on how he was supposed to act during the peace talks. Obviously, he wouldn't be allowed inside the confidential conference room where Senator Tovar and his equivalent from the royal house conducted their high-stakes horse trading.
Instead, Tovar told him to hang around outside and try to befriend the other Vesians in the same position as him. Apparently, bringing along interesting fellows like Ves to meet with other interesting fellows from the other party happened all the time in these kinds of gatherings.
Shortly after the arrival of Ves and some other key personnel, the Tovar Peace Delegation finally set off to a surprising destination. When Ves asked a crew member where they would be heading, he received a surprising answer.
"The Reinald Republic agreed to host the peace talks. They've set aside a place for the talks at Harksenen II."
Ves blinked. "The Harkensen System? Isn't it extremely busy?"
"The brass seem to think that they can hide themselves the best if they're in a crowd. All kinds of shady types visit the Harkensen System on a daily basis, so our disguised fleet won't catch any attention."
Hearing that they would be visiting the Harkensen System again made Ves feel as if he was revisiting the past. He did not enjoy the best time there, and the chaos on Harkensen I severely damaged the star system's standing as a safe destination to relax and partake in the underground markets.
Even so, the Tovar Peace Delegation would not be cutting straight through hostile territory in order to reach the Reinald Republic. Instead, the fleet would take a very wide detour around the Vesia Kingdom and reach the Reinald Republic from the other side.
The fleet centered around the Felicitous Remembrance intended to expedite their travel by travelling through various port systems. This allowed the fleet to traverse a much greater distance with much greater time savings.
Even so, the extent of their detour still meant that the fleet would only be able to reach the Reinald Republic in one-and-a-half months. That didn't sound very bad as they would mostly be safe by sticking to the major shipping lines, but it left Ves with very little to do except to get to know the crew a bit better.
Due to the high degree of confidentiality surrounding the peace talks, almost no one except Senator Tovar and some other key personnel retained access to the galactic net. Everyone else got their access cut off, leaving them isolated from the greater galaxy!
Fortunately, Ves hadn't been stranded on the Felicitous Remembrance without guidance. Preston Lowe found him again as he whiled away his time in his luxurious cabin aboard the passenger ship.
"Secretary Lowe, is it?"
"Ah, you remember me, Mr. Larkinson." The diplomatic aide bowed. "I've been assigned to meet the needs of our various attachés, which includes you. I understand that someone as young as you might be lacking some direction right now. If you have any questions, now would be the time to ask."
Ves truly wanted to obtain some answers to his questions.
"Alright. Who are the people in charge of conducting the negotiations?"
"Senator Camden Tovar is the principal representative of our government." Preston smoothly replied. "However, aside from setting overall policy, the senator will likely leave most of the daily talks to Lieutenant Colonel Xelven from the Bureau of Sector Affairs."
Ves frowned at that. "Why a military officer?"
"Forging a peace between the Republic and the Kingdom requires the cessation of military conflict. The thorniest issues and the biggest headaches we expect to encounter all relate to the contradictions that have developed during the war. Therefore, since the bulk of the peace talks will involve military concessions, it is best if we can rely on Colonel Xelven to stay on top of these topics."
"Having a member of the armed forces lead the talks will also placate all the serviceman back home when the peace treaty is finally revealed." Ves guessed.
"True. Even if we managed to survive the arduous talks and sign a successful agreement with our Vesian counterparts, it is still a tall order to convince the rest of the Bright Republic of its necessity. It is essential for us to get the military on our side. Therefore, Senator Tovar has given Colonel Xelven wide discretion on the direction of the talks."
That sounded like a very major concession at first, but Ves figured that the Bureau of Sector Affairs might possess some connections to the Tovar Family. After all, for Senator Tovar to trust Colonel Xelven to this extent would be unthinkable unless the military officer threw his lot with the Tovars.
Everyone aboard the ship possessed some connections to the Tovar Family, Ves belatedly realized. There wouldn't be any independents accompanying the peace delegation to the Harkensen System.
"How many attachés has Senator Tovar brought along?" He asked.
"Around thirty, all told."
"Thirty!"
"Do you think that's much? That's fairly small considering the monumental nature of the peace talks." Secretary Lowe shook his head. "All the prior formal peace talks between the Republic and the Kingdom involved hundreds of attachés at a time. Each of them lent their expertise to to hammer out the specific details of some of the terms of the peace treaty."
According to Lowe, Senator Tovar invited various experts from almost every part of Brighter society to take part. The various attachés consisted of an eclectic mix of military officers, government officials, academics, bankers, industrialists and so on. Each of them held some weight in their circles.
In fact, Ves stood out as an attaché because he wasn't at least fifty years old and familiar in the upper echelons of power in the Republic!
"You're kind of the odd man out, Mr. Larkinson." Secretary Lowe warned him. "While your recent achievements garnered you a lot of respect from the republic, the people that have joined this delegation are all great men and women who have accomplished much more in their lives. As a junior, you must pay great attention to your conduct. Be respectful and be mindful of your place."
"I get it." Ves smiled sardonically. "I'm just a little fish in a pond of big fish. I should keep my head down lest I get eaten."
"I am glad to see you recognize the overall situation. In truth, I believe much of the Vesian delegation will also consist of senior military officers, government officials and business magnates. As a younger member of our delegation, you will have a hard time mixing in with them. Let us hope they have also brought a number of young people along."
Ves did not think himself any lesser than any of the other business owners that accepted Senator Tovar's invitation. Due to his younger age and shorter career, he hadn't managed to transform his business success into clout.
Without clout, he held no influence among the upper society of the Republic. Not even his Larkinson name allowed him access to this exclusive circle.
Something like clout could only be accumulated over time. It took more than a successful business and a notable reputation to impress the old hands who had been running the various core aspects of the Bright Republic for decades if not longer.
"What can you tell me about the other mech designer of the delegation?"
"Ah. You must be talking about Professor Corus Ventag. As a mech designer, you must have heard of him, right?"
He did. Ves memorized the identities of almost every Senior Mech Designer based in the Bright Republic. This wasn't very hard as most of them either led their own mech companies or became tenured professors at various universities and institutions.
Even most of the Senior Mech Designers who partnered up with the Mech Corps or Flashlight also held publicly-known positions.
Ves tried to recall what he knew of Professor Ventag. One detail immediately stood out. "He teaches at Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation, right?"
"The DCTI is the professor's alma mater as well. He is one of the few Senior Mech Designers of the Republic who isn't related to the Ansel University of Mech Design."
This must be the main reason why Senator Tovar associated with Professor Ventag. With the senator and Flashlight's seeming preoccupation against the AUMD, Professor Ventag offered him a powerful connection to the mech industry that wasn't involved with Ansel's incestuous alumni netwrok.
He also recalled another major fact. "Professor Ventag is also the founder and CEO of NORA Consolidated!"
NORA Consolidated was a big name in the Bright Republic's mech industry. While it wasn't the largest mech company, it could absolutely rank among the top due to the incredible diversity of their products.
Professor Ventag's specialty was rather vague in that he focused his efforts on revolutionizing damage control in mechs. This did not restrict him in the type of mechs he designed, so NORA Consolidated offered a very expansive mech catalog which sold almost every type of mechs aside from heavy mechs!
In fact, Professor Ventag gained something of a reputation for being an all-rounder within the mech industry. He didn't design any flashy or extreme mechs. Instead, he designed simple, functional and efficient mechs that did their jobs in the most expedient fashion possible.
NORA Consolidated became known as the biggest players in the midrange mech market. They gained a reputation for great quality control and offering reasonable prices for very reliable mechs.
While the lack of flashiness and extremes prevented the company to stand out in the market, it nonetheless managed to gain a large amount of loyal followers who came to trust the company's brand.
Ves respected Professor Ventag for achieving this much! Best of all, unlike Professor Velten, Professor Ventag was merely around eighty years old, which meant he had plenty of years ahead of him before he needed to retire!
Chapter 1010
Obtaining the first round of life-prolonging treatment may be out of reach for the average people, but a Senior Mech Designer was never hurting for money.
Seniors normally spent an inordinate amount of time, money and resources to progress their research. At this stage in their careers, many Seniors valued their research over their companies. However, it took an extremely long time for them to obtain any breakthroughs.
Most never managed to achieve any breakthroughs in their lifetimes. Therefore, they diverted some of their efforts into earning huge amounts of money to be able to afford the first round of life-prolonging treatment from the MTA.
While expensive, a Senior possessed enough earning power to pay for the treatment within their lifetimes. Such expensive treatments were normally out of reach to Journeymen.
Of course, this situation only applied to third-rate states. In a second-rate state like the Friday Coalition, certain wealthy Journeymen or those who possessed powerful backers got to extend their life by a century without sacrificing too much.
This essential difference in earning power strengthened the mech industry of the Friday Coalition because these Journeymen gained an additional century of lifespan to advance to Senior. This in effect gave second-rate states a much higher proportion of Seniors, so much so that the rate of Masters emerging from the crowd subsequently increased as well!
However, if there was one flaw about Seniors who advanced late, it was that they usually held very little promise. Seniors based in the Republic who advanced through their own hard work under less-than-ideal circumstances were not inferior than the Seniors based in the second-rate states!
Seniors wished above all else to realize their design philosophy and turn the impossible into reality. In pursuit of their advancement to Master, the longer they lived, the greater the chance they accomplished their greatest desire.
Yet to obtain the second round of life-prolonging treatment required them to pay an exponentially greater amount of compensation. In general, no Senior based in a third-rate state would be able to afford the opportunity to live up to three-hundred years!
Even the Seniors of the Friday Coalition encountered many difficulties in trying to pay for such a luxurious privilege. In truth, Ves didn't fully know what the MTA demanded in exchange for the third round of treatment, but he heard that they didn't solely ask for a huge bag of money.
"Anyone who wants to obtain the subsequent rounds of life-prolonging treatment has to meet some other conditions."
Everyone figured that the actual supply of life-prolonging treatment was very limited. If the MTA didn't put up more barriers to halt the influx of requests, they wouldn't have enough to extend the lives of their own key personnel!
In short, no matter where a Senior based himself, he would easily be able to scrounge up the money to extend his lifespan to up to two-hundred years.
The only two Seniors from the Bright Republic that Ves interacted with was Professor Velten at the Flagrant Vandals and Professor Enoch at Frozen Point Research Base. Both of them differed remarkably as the former had reached a very advanced age.
In fact, Professor Velten was outright senile, and had already resigned most of her former duties. Ves found her life trajectory to be fairly tragic, yet he also knew that most Seniors led similar trajectories in their life.
He hadn't forgotten her final warning to him back at the Wolf Mother.
"A Senior already enjoys a great status in the Bright Republic and elsewhere in the galaxy. They are flooded with opportunities. Yet compared to advancing to Master, most of those offers are nothing but distractions."
Without advancing to Master, a Senior would always reach the end of their lives filled with regret!
Those who advanced to Master relatively fast like Master Olson were truly fortunate! Even those who advanced well into their second century of life also thanked their luck. Far too many Seniors never found the opportunity to advance and turned into footnotes in the mech industry.
A lot of local mech designers memorized the names of every Master Mech Designers based in the Komodo Star Sector. Yet they never bothered memorizing the names of every Senior except the ones from their own state.
In any case, Professor Ventag that Senator Tovar somehow roped into the peace delegation possessed some hope of advancing to Master.
"Even so, most Seniors who are based in third-rate states never advance to Master." He frowned.
Masters emerged only rarely. Even the Friday Coalition didn't have enough to go around. It simply came down to lacking enough money to fund their expensive research endeavors.
This was why at some point, some Seniors who still possessed a decent hope of advancing to Master within their lifetimes moved to the Friday Coalition.
Ves didn't know the exact figures, but the Bright Republic and many other third-rate states actually lost over half of their Seniors this way!
The only problem was that the Seniors who all decided to make the move never received a warm welcome in such a tough and unfamiliar environment. Their status as outsiders always distinguished themselves from the native Seniors.
In practice, the Seniors that decided to move to a more prosperous state hadn't led to a greater increase in the chance of advancing to Master at all!
People came up with various reasons to explain why. The general consensus was that all the distractions and difficulties surrounding the relocation burdened the foreign Seniors so much that they failed to enter their best state when performing their research.
"That's probably not the full story, but it's definitely one of the main factors." Ves silently judged.
Therefore, plenty of Seniors still remained with their current states even if they seem limited. It wasn't as if they sold their mechs to a single state at this stage. Many companies such as the Kadar-Neyvis Group and NORA Consolidated sold mechs across states and even star sectors!
As long as the reach of their products extended to more and more markets, the amount of money flowing in grew respectfully large. This gave Professor Ventag enough money to fuel his ongoing research.
The Seniors who relocated to the Friday Coalition often faced very steep competition from the large amount of Seniors who already carved out their places in the state's prosperous mech market. Native Seniors possessed a much stronger foundation into some of the more advanced tech that catered specifically to a second-rate state's development level. This gave native mech designers an edge and foreign mech designers an inherent disadvantage.
In short, Any Senior entering the market of the Friday Coalition for the first time needed to build their company back from the ground up. This usually took a very long time as the competition was too intense! By the time their companies reached a certain scale, they might already be nearing two-hundred years old and with very little time left to work towards their advancement!
In the end, the fate of a mech designer strongly correlated to their origins.
Those born and raised in third-rate states inevitably hit a ceiling that was nearly impossible for them to break.
Those born in second-rate states inherently received more privileges and opportunities, so it was no surprise that they possessed the ability to pump out Masters every now and then.
"It's unfair, but nothing in the galaxy is truly fair." Ves concluded. "The disadvantaged just have to work a little harder to achieve their dreams."
None of this dynamic concerned Ves too much because the System formed a very powerful tool in overcoming the various hurdles in his career if they stymied him. Just because he didn't want to become dependent on the System didn't mean he purposefully turned away from it whenever it offered him a way to save years of his life spent on fruitless work.
However, understanding the situation facing Seniors helped him understand Professor Ventag's position. While the Felicitous Remembrance blocked all outside access to the galactic net, Ves still received permission to access her internal database, which stored huge tranches of data.
Ves managed to read up on the Senior. NORA Consolidated truly cooperated a lot of the government and military. Professor Ventag received a reputation for being particularly cozy with some government institutions.
While the market didn't care about that, the mech industry and in particular the other Senior Mech Designers faintly opposed him for that reason.
After all, unlike most of the other Seniors who originated from the AUMD, Professor Ventag came from the Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation.
Widely considered as the second-best mech university of the Bright Republic, the DCTI always stood in Ansel's shadow. If not for the fact that some of its graduates occasionally managed to advance to Senior, it would have been completely obscured by many of the other run-of-the-mill institutions of the Bright Republic.
Even so, a lot of mech designers who didn't think they'd be able to get accepted by the AUMD all applied to study at the DCTI in droves.
He laughed a bit. "I was one of them in fact."
Back when he didn't obtain the System, he had never excelled in his studies. He certainly hadn't become good enough for the likes of Ansel or the DCTI. He had no choice but to attend the Rittersberg University of Technology.
"Even then, I think the Larkinsons gave me a hand in getting accepted there. It's not that easy to get into the RUT either."
While the universities on Rittersberg never managed to produce any particularly talented mech designers, many of them went on to work in the military or the public sector. A lot of officials and policymakers that regulated the mech market had actually graduated from the RUT or other schools located in the capital.
This also happened to give the Ansel alumni a lot to complain about. They detested the bureaucrats from Rittersberg and disparaged them as failed mech designers who went on to pursue a middling career in the government.
Ves shrugged. He could have been one of those petty bureaucrats as well if his mech business failed and he wasn't able to accumulate new knowledge quickly enough.
As he continued to perform research on Professor Ventag, Secretary Lowe rang the bell outside his cabin.
"Mr. Larkinson?"
"What is, secretary?"
"Professor Corus Ventag has extended an invitation to visit him at his stateroom aboard the ship."
Ves looked up from his terminal. "He did?"
"If you wish to accept his invitation, please go on your way as soon as convenient."
"I'll be right outside!"
He half-expected Professor Ventag to ignore Ves. Outside of his wartime accomplishments, Ves shouldn't have attracted the Senior's attention. As a lowly Apprentice, Ves wasn't worth befriending. Ventag would be completely justified if he decided to ignore the only other mech designer in the peace delegation!
Even so, Ves smiled at the summons. Every Senior Mech Designer he met enriched his understanding of their class even further. From the senile Professor Velten to the obsessive Skull Architect, talking to each of them gave Ves valuable insights of the higher echelons of the mech design profession.
He quickly sorted out his uniform and appearance and stepped outside his cabin, where Secretary Lowe swiftly guided him to the Senior Mech Designer's stateroom.
"Professor Ventag is an honored guest of Senator Tovar. I don't think you need the reminder, but please be respectful when you meet with him. The Tovar Family also has ties to NORA Consolidated."
Ves nodded. "I understand. I won't do anything that annoys the professor."
After a brief walk, they emerged in front of a hatch guarded by four security guards from the elite mech regiment that took responsibility for protecting the peace delegation.
After a fairly thorough security check where Ves had to temporarily relinquish his comm, he entered through the hatch where he entered a slightly smaller and less luxurious compartment than Senator Tovar's stateroom.
"Ah, Ves Larkinson. Please come inside. I have been expecting you." A deep and intense voice called out from within.
Chapter 1011
Unlike most of the Seniors he met before, Professor Ventag didn't sit behind his desk. Instead, he stood in front of a projection depicting Bentheim from orbit. It was a stunning sight and the globe offered its viewers a good glimpse of the dense amount of structures dotting the busy planet.
"Come closer, young man."
Ves slowly stepped inside, taking note of the security guards stationed inside. It seemed that every important person aboard this ship except Ves received guard protection!
Of course, that might also be because Ves wasn't very important in the eyes of Senator Tovar and the higher ups!
He quickly shook away his resentment at the perceived lack of care in order to cross the room without making a scene.
When Ves came to Professor Ventag's side, he became struck by how thin and tall the Senior appeared.
Ventag possessed a dark complexion that wasn't very prevalent in the Komodo Star Sector. He possessed an intense pair of eyes that continued to scan over Bentheim's various terrain features.
A minute passed by as Ves quietly waited for the Senior to speak. Just standing silently next to the professor already gave Ves a vague idea that this was a hard-working Senior Mech Designer with a lot more promise han Professor Velten!
This was a Senior who was still in his prime!
"Mr. Larkinson." The professor finally began. "Senator Tovar instructed me to take care of you while you are a part of the peace delegation. He seems to believe that you can benefit from my guidance while you are here. Tell me, are you the kind of helpless mech designer who can't do anything without a Senior to hold your hand?"
Ves smiled awkwardly at the Senior. What the hell was this?!
"I did not expect Senator Tovar to solicit you on my behalf." He began. "I welcome any advice you can give me, but I am already content with my current progress."
Ventag nodded. "Short and diplomatic. Good answer. Your words contain neither arrogance or servility. You have expressed enough deference to be respectful, but not enough to suggest you are sucking up to me. Are you pleased?"
"I am pleased to receive your praise."
"Wrong answer."
Ves looked a bit stumped as Ventag stopped speaking and went back to staring the projection of the globe. What was he supposed to say? It was too unseemly for an Apprentice to argue against a Senior's judgement, yet Ventag didn't change the topic to something else and instead let his last remark linger.
He felt as if Professor Ventag was testing in some way. While Ves did not fear being quizzed on mech design topics, all of this strange talk just tied him in a knot.
Fortunately, the strange Senior eventually moved on and gestured an arm at the projection. "Hmph. Very well, let's move on. Tell me, what do you see?"
"It's a projection of Bentheim, the principal planet of the Bentheim System." Ves answered. "As the center of trade, production and innovation of the Bright Republic, Bentheim is a vital economic motor to the state."
"Is that all you see? Is that all that Bentheim represents?"
What Ves previously said was a standard textbook answer. However, a Senior never wanted a simple answer! This prompted him to recall his previous talks with Senator Tovar and Leland. To people in their camp, Bentheim wouldn't have given them so many headaches if it was just a prosperous planet.
"Bentheim.. Bentheim is a planet in contention. It possesses an abundant amount of economic power, but it is far away from Rittersberg, which is the Republic political center of power. These differences have led to much friction, culminating in the rise of the Bentheim Liberation Movement. Their goal to liberate Bentheim from the Republic is unrealistic and downright stupid, but their grievances against the central government aren't... unfounded."
Professor Ventag threw him an intense glance that made Ves feel as if his eyes were being poked. "That is a very nuanced opinion. Senator Tovar won't be pleased with your answer, you know. To the politicians at Rittersberg, Bentheim has been treated more than fairly. Certainly, the planet gives up a lot of its revenue, but in turn it is able to shelter under the umbrella of the mighty Bright Republic! Do you see it that way as well, Mr. Larkinson?"
One could argue how much benefits the rest of the Bright Republic actually offered to Bentheim. That way usually led to people getting into heated arguments.
Ves vaguely figured that this issue seemed to be very important Professor Ventag. Otherwise, why raise this topic in the first place?
No matter what he said, he would be sure to upset at least someone. In the presence of Professor Ventag, Ves suspected that he couldn't get away with a lie or a non-answer. So he decided to bite the bullet and speak his personal opinion on the matter.
"While I've spent a portion of my youth as well as my student years on Rittersberg, my true home is Cloudy Curtain which is very close to Bentheim. Having grown up on a quiet, rural planet right next door to the busy Bentheim, I learned that my planet is heavily depended on the commerce and consumers that Bentheim offers. While Cloudy Curtain is extremely dependent on Bentheim to sell cloud rice and other agricultural products, Bentheim is also dependent on other planets and star systems to provide them with goods and services that keeps it aloft."
Ventag's lips curled a little. He appeared to be pleased. "Go on."
"Every planet and star system is interconnected these days. As far as Bentheim concerned, it uses up an incredible amount of food to feed its dense population and demands an enormous tide of raw materials to feed its mech companies and other industries."
"Trade doesn't necessarily happen within the borders of a state. In fact, Bentheim imports and exports most of the goods that pass through the star system."
"Even so, the domestic suppliers and buyers offer Bentheim stable and favorable partners to do business with. You can't say the same about the foreign states, who can turn against us at any time to further their own goals. Aside from that, Bentheim's most powerful gift from the state is the protection of all of the forces of the Mech Corps raised in the other parts of the state to reinforce the star system's defenses!"
"Very good. That is one of the most important observations you can make." Professor Ventag nodded. "No state can stand on their own without military power. The Bright Republic is no different. Some local miscreants and agitators may be convinced that Bentheim is able to raise a sufficient amount of forces to hold back the Vesia Kingdom, but that is a considerable miscalculation. Strength is strongly correlated with territory. This has been tested over and over again throughout the wars in the past, both against other human states and against the aliens. What do you think of Ansel?"
Ventag probably didn't ask Ves on his opinion about the city.
"The AUMD is one of the most prestigious schools for mech designers." Ves answered, stating the obvious before he gave his opinion. "Regardless of its faults, it is nonetheless able to provide the Bright Republic with most of its Senior Mech Designers. As long as we have so many Seniors, we are able to stay on par against the Vesians who possess slightly more Seniors due to their larger population."
Professor Ventag sighed. "The AUMD is a necessary evil. I agree with Senator Tovar that Ansel possesses an outsized amount of influence in the mech industry. However, the way the Bright Republic has hamfistedly tried to restrict the school has either ended in failure or antagonized the Ansel alumni network into pushing back. It is not so easy to wean the Republic from their dependence to a single institution."
All of this didn't really seem relevant to Ves in his life. However, he knew that the more he grew, the more he would become involved with this particular dynamic. What he witnessed at the KNG already showed him a glimpse of the power and reach of Ansel mech designers.
"Probably the only way to keep the AUMD in check is to offer worthy competition." Ves remarked.
"That is exactly what we are trying to do. The Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation is one of several ongoing solutions by the central government to chip away at the AUMD's monopoly on high-ranked mech designers. However, we estimate that barring any major incidents, it will take centuries for the DCTI to be able to come close to matching the AUMD's prestige. What do you think of my alma mater?"
Ves twitched his lips. He couldn't very well badmouth the professor's own school, right?
"The DCTI enjoys a good reputation in the Bright Republic. It's the second school of choice for most students aspiring to be mech designers. Its track record of raising mech designers who went on to successfully advance toe Senior is respectable enough to give many students hope of achieving the same one day."
Ventag shook his head. "I'm afraid it is not so simple, Mr. Larkinson. Every decent school for mech designer is able to raise some Journeymen at the very least. However, it takes an enormous amount of investment as well as other requirements to make a Journeyman advance to Senior. The AUMD is able to shoulder these requirements with their famed alumni network. Successful Seniors are willing to lend their hand to the younger generation of Ansel mech designers with guidance, financial assistance, technical help or favorable contracts."
"It's a virtuous cycle." Ves observed. "Older Seniors help out younger Journeyman, increasing the chances that the latter are able to advance to Seniors. This new generation of Seniors are subsequently encouraged by the alumni network to do the same to the generation of mech designers before them. The same thing repeats again and again."
At some point, the alumni network became so wealthy, powerful and influential that Ansel graduates take up the majority of the Bright Republic's top-end mech design talent!
"I am glad you recognize how formidable the Ansel machine has become." Ventag said. "Breaking this machine is impossible. Therefore, Rittersberg has instead decided to erode it over time. It may take centuries, but eventually the DCTI will rise to catch up to the AUMD and be able to offer an equivalent amount of help to their Journeymen to ease their advancement to Senior."
This was a very long-term scheme that didn't seem very likely to achieve their goals. Ves did not hold out his hopes that the DCTI would ever be able to beat the AUMD at their own game. Its reputation as the second-best mech design university of the Bright Republic wasn't a badge of honor, but a mark of stain to the school. The AUMD would never allow the DCTI to wipe off that stain.
Ves found it difficult to care about this issue. He was just an Apprentice for now, and even if he advanced Journeyman he still failed to see why he should be involved. After all, he studied at a school on Rittersberg and not Bentheim, so he found it hard to care about the rivalry between the two best mech design universities.
"Senator Tovar... has expressed an intriguing possibility." Professor Ventag said and stopped studying the projection of Bentheim. He turned to Ves with his intense eyes flaring. "Personally, I find his suggestion rather premature. However, it is intriguing enough for me to consider it. What do you think about a future opportunity to teach at my school? As long as you become a Journeyman Mech Designer with some renown, you are qualified to teach some introductory classes at the Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation. Does that interest you, Mr. Larkinson?"
Ves gulped. This offer completely came out of the blue! While Ves always dreamt of holding a teaching job as a side activity, he wasn't very picky about the schools. Yet if Ves casually accepted this overture from Professor Ventag, then he would firmly put himself in the DCTI's camp, making him an enemy of the AUMD and its powerful Ansel alumni network!
Chapter 1012
As Ves exited Professor Ventag's stateroom, he nervously wiped his brow. He managed to weasel his way out of the potential offer with a noncommittal answer.
Regardless, Ves received a standing invitation to come teach at the Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation as long as he advanced to Journeyman and became respected among the ranks of other Journeymen.
To be honest, Ves saw a lot of appeal in accepting a teaching position at the DCTI. As the second-best school of mech design in the Republic, it still earned quite some renown. Anyone talented enough to teach at the university instantly stood out from other mech designers.
His stature in the mech industry would increase, and the market responded quite well to mechs designed by professors from renowned universities. In addition, Ves would be able to get in touch with a lot of other Journeymen and Seniors the DCTI employed.
However, the down side to teaching at the DCTI was the political implications of aligning himself to their camp. Professor Ventag made it very clear that the Tovars and perhaps the central government at Rittersberg explicitly supported the DCTI in an attempt to dethrone the Ansel University of Mech Design.
To an outsider to the conflict like Ves, the rivalry seemed way too overblown. While he understood the apprehension towards the collective power of the AUMD, it also did a lot of good for the Republic. It didn't seem to him that Ansel held any nefarious intentions to the state.
Those Ansel brats that Ves corralled for half a year at Frozen Point Research Base showed that while they possessed a greater foundation, it didn't necessarily make them great mech designers. They just graduated at a higher starting point and if they were lucky they could make use of their Ansel association to get access to easy startup funds or good employment opportunities.
"Even so, Ansel has produced so many Senior Mech Designers that they are practically in control of the Bright Republic's mech industry."
If every Ansel Senior came to a decision on something, everyone else had no choice but to obey. This even took on the form of a formal institution called the Bentheim Mech Court which was a gathering of ten of the most renowned and prestigious Seniors in the Republic!
The fear that Rittersberg held towards Ansel was that it firmly held root in Bentheim. Every mech designer that graduated from that school considered themselves a Bentheimer as well as a citizen of the Republic.
Sometimes, the Ansel alumni balanced both loyalties without any difficulties. In extreme cases, however, the former took precedence to disastrous results.
The DCTI, as pathetic as it seemed in comparison, served as Rittersberg's main thrust towards the AUMD. Both schools had been locked into bitter rivalry ever since the central government stoked the conflict.
Right now, Ves mainly stood apart from this conflict due to his low stature within the mech industry. He was able to get away from Professor Ventag without a commitment because of that.
Still, to Ves it seemed that he was merely postponing a necessary decision. Eventually, he would advance to Journeyman and become someone successful enough to attract scrutiny from both camps.
The problem was that Ves stood opposite to Ansel from the very start. Not only did he study at Rittersberg, he also became apprenticed, if only tenuously, to a foreign Master Mech Designer. Both of these traits instantly disqualified him from entering their exclusive circle.
"Therefore, I can either stay neutral or throw my lot with the DCTI."
Staying neutral allowed him to stay above these petty conflicts. It also afforded him no extra privileges in the Bright Republic's mech industry.
From his time at the KNG, Ves knew that as mech companies became bigger and more influential, politics played a greater in keeping them aloft. Having strong allies shielded his company to an extent.
Yet was this protection enough to side with the DCTI? Ves did not follow the normal career trajectory of a mech designer from the Republic. With the help of the System, he possessed much less reliance on the help of others to advance his mech design skills.
As long as he improved, why should he knock on someone else's door and beg for help?
The strongest advantage the System gave him was that it enabled him to be self-sufficient!
Therefore, the most prudent and rational course of action for him was to stay aloof of the rivalry between the two institutions. Certainly, Ves wouldn't be the first mech designer to do so. In fact, he vaguely knew that many other mech designers with ties to the Friday Coalition did so as well.
"In fact, I've already joined a camp. The Clifford Society and Master Olson are both powerful if exceedingly distant backers."
Still, though they both wielded a lot of clout, they were very distant and the help they could provide to Ves was limited.
It might be one thing if Ves began to relocate his business to the Friday Coalition, but as long as he remained in the Bright Republic he still couldn't get away with everything. Therefore, siding with one of the two institutions would still help him pass through various difficulties.
As Ves continued to weigh the merits of associating himself with the DCTI as opposed to staying neutral, he headed towards the Felicitous Remembrance's dining room for a meal.
The dining room befitted the Remembrance's luxurious aesthetic. As Ves saw more of the ship, he got the notion that she was much more than met the eye. As Ves sat down a semi-enclosed table and ordered some plain dishes from the projected menu, he knocked his knuckle against the surface of the ornate dining table.
"This is compressed alloy!"
Who would waste so much money constructing nearly indestructible tables? While the bulkheads and most of the structure of the Remembrance didn't make use of compressed alloys, they did make use of large amounts of very strong alloys that Ves found a bit too extravagant to justify.
Of course, it wasn't any of his business where Senator Tovar chose to spend his money.
As a couple of bots hovered by to drop the dishes, Ves began to dig in. "This is good!"
While Ves didn't mind a nutrient pack to get by for the day, it felt good to indulge once in a while. Still, Ves kept Professor Velten's warning in mind about overindulging in pleasures.
For some reason, Ves thought that Professor Ventag took an excessive amount of interest in his political concerns. His participation in the Tovar Peace Delegation and his intricate involvement with the central government and the Tovar Family put him knee-deep into politics.
"Will he even have enough time left to spend on furthering his own career?" Ves idly wondered. "Ventag didn't even discuss actual mech design topics with me. It's as if he is more of an official than a mech designer."
Certainly, Ves recognized that almost every mech designer needed to be a bit of a politician in order to navigate the higher echelons of power. Government and businesses inevitably began to intermingle considering the huge sums involved.
Yet for a mech designer to strive so much on behalf of someone else weirded Ves a little out. None of the other Seniors he met appeared to hold much regard for politics.
Halfway into his meal, someone abruptly arrived and sat at the other end of the table.
"Yo! Do you mind if I sit here?" A slightly accented voice asked. It sounded vaguely familiar to Ves. "Everyone else aboard this damned ship is too old or stuck up to keep me company! I'm surprised they let someone as young as you in their club!"
Startled, Ves looked up and saw a handsome man around his age or a little older staring back at him. His handsome countenance, his noble bearing, his masculine clothing and his wild blond hair all seemed very familiar to Ves!
"Lord Javier! What are you doing here?!" Ves asked with a startled tone!
Javier frowned for a moment. "You know me?"
"How could I not? We hunted you down with great effort and great sacrifice. Your Loquacious Raphael made a big impression against the Vandals!"
This prompted Javier to study Ves in greater detail. He took in the various awards and began to suspect something. "You were with the Vandals?"
Ves saw no harm in admitting it. "I was."
This caused the Vesian noble to color a bit. Obviously, he hadn't entirely gotten over the way the Vandals defeated him in battle and hunted him down while he tried to escape under stealth.
For the both of them to meet each other aboard the Felicitous Remembrance seemed to be quite the coincidence!
When the Flagrant Vandals finally took Lord Javier into custody, they ostensibly handed him over to the Vesian Revolutionary Front. This allowed the VRF to execute the abusive noble for the many crimes he committed against the citizens of the Detemen System.
Yet secretly, the Vandals kept him alive and in captivity all this time in a hidden compartment deep inside the Shield of Hispania.
Ves never heard what the Vandals did with Lord Javier. He wasn't part of Major Verle's inner circle back then so did not get any opportunity to meet the noble scion in person.
For Lord Javier to avoid being executed and for him to be present here drew Ves' curiosity.
"Are you a prisoner here?" Ves asked simply.
"Nah. I'm a 'guest'." Lord Javier shrugged and slumped in his chair. "Since you know who I really am, I guess it can't hurt to tell you that I'm a bargaining chip in the upcoming negotation."
Ves nodded in understanding. "Your father, the head of House Eneqqin, would love to have you back. Yet would the rest of your House even want you back for all you've done? Not only did you fail to defend the Detemen System against the Vandal raids, you've been missing for what, two years?"
Lord Javier grinned and waved aside those arguments. "My father is powerful enough to dismiss those faults. All the other useless dolts of House Eneqqin aren't a match for me when I'm back inside the cockpit! That alone makes it worth it for father to get me back! Anything else that's inconvenient to me can be scrubbed from the records just like any other stains. No one except the locals will remember the Detemen raid in five years time."
"How wonderfully convenient of you nobles." Ves dryly remarked.
Just as the high officials of the Bright Republics sought to bend the rules in their favor, so did the nobles of the Vesia Kingdom. The only difference was that the Vesian way was a lot more direct due to their greater authority!
"Say, I've seen you in the news." Lord Javier looked at Ves in a speculative way. "You're that combat-tested mech designer, right? From the famous Larkinson line as well. Your family has a bad reputation in my state, you know. If any of our mech pilots can prove they killed one of you bastards, they would earn a lot of merit. It's even better if we kill your expert candidates. Any commoner can instantly become a knight if they killed someone like Ghanso Larkinson!"
Ves felt really weird talking face to face with an unabashed Vesian noble. "I'm glad to hear that the Larkinsons have been thorns in the side of you Vesians."
"Ah, well, it's all fun and games in the war, am I right?" Lord Javier flippantly said. "To be honest, I quite enjoy my vacation among you guys. Spending some time away from my duties and sitting out on the war while other poor sods are fighting and dying for no reason is quite the lucky chance."
"The people who are fighting at the frontlines are doing so for a cause. I don't think you should belittle their sacrifices."
"Pff. They're merely sheep. People live and die all the time. If not in this war, then some other stupid conflict. The Reinald Republic's pirate problem has already proved that people can't sit still."
For some reason, Ves vaguely thought that Lord Javier shared a lot in common with Senator Tovar. They both treated the lives of others like currency. At least the senator had the decency to claim he worked on behalf of the state. In comparison, Lord Javier didn't hide the fact that he was a callous bastard outside a public setting.
Chapter 1013
Back when the Flagrant Vandals raided the Detemen System and hunted Lord Javier down, the noble facetiously spouted words that painted him as a hero that stood up for the beleaguered citizens.
Now though, Lord Javier seemed to have aged a bit and lose some of his brashness during his time in captivity. While Ves thought that he was still very much a jerk, Javier at least seemed to be aware of his lack of power among the Brighters.
In fact, Ves somehow found it rather compelling to hear the opinions of a genuine Vesian noble. Perhaps desperate for company, Lord Javier freely divulged his opinions on matters that nobles never talked about to outsiders.
"Why have you been taken along?" Ves asked. "Is there something remarkable about you?"
"I already told you, Ves. I'm just a hostage that your pompous senator wants to use as a bargaining chip." He replied. "You might not know this, but House Eneqqin is a major force in the Imodris Duchy. My father is very powerful and influential. The only problem facing our House is that I'm the only heir that's qualified to take up his mantle. All the other Eneqqins who are eligible to become the new head of our House are all pansies who I've beaten up on a daily basis back when we grew up. Without me, House Eneqqin is doomed!"
"Even so, does the Duchess of Imodris favor House Eneqqin so much that she'll agree to a peace treaty just so that they get you back?" Ves asked with skepticism.
Javier chuckled. "It helps. My return can do quite a lot, you know. Not only will House Eneqqin's succession and continued dominance for the next half century or longer be secure, the Duchess will also have our undying loyalty for the foreseeable future. That kind of support will secure House Imodris' hold on the duchy. Those kinds of gains help compensate for the gains that House Imodris misses out if the war is cut short earlier than scheduled."
To Javier, the Bright-Vesia Wars was nothing more than a means for the Vesian nobles to jockey for power and prestige.
The adventurous young lords and ladies gleefully led their forces into battle in order to raise their status and win the struggle for succession in their noble houses.
The older generation on the other hand put their sights on other noble houses. Those that performed well in the war received more accolades and attention while those who did badly quickly fell in status among the noble circles.
Even the dukes and duchesses that ruled at the top of their own territories couldn't avoid this generational rat race. If their mech legions didn't perform sufficiently well at the frontlines, their share of the overall distribution of resources from collective revenue sources such as the Kingdom's two port systems would be cut!
All in all, to Ves it sounded like a costly but brutally effective way to keep everyone on their toes. Through constant competition, every Vesian, no matter how high their status, needed to fight in order to preserve their privileges!
"So us Brighters are just target dummies for you Vesians to show off your prowess?" Ves cynically remarked.
"For a soft republic ruled by duplicitous families, some of you Brighters can sure put up a mean fight! I had to literally fight for my life during my battles against your Vandal mechs! But yeah, we've fought against you so often that we've pretty much got the measure of your Mech Corps. Fighting you Brighters has become so routine that hardly anything surprises us anymore, your sudden raid on the Detemen System aside."
"Don't you think the war is kind of pointless then?"
"Nah. Who else are we going to beat up if not the Bright Republic? There's too much we don't know if we pick a fight against another state! Since we've never truly fought a war against another state, we don't know whether it will go well or poorly for us. On the other hand, waging war against the Bright Republic is a much better idea because you guys are strong enough to put a worthy fight but not too strong to the point of being able to turn the tables on us!"
In other words, the Vesians were so familiar with fighting against the Bright Republic that the risks and uncertainties posed by the Bright-Vesia Wars had been reduced to the minimum! The constancy and predictability of the generational wars allowed the Vesians to unleash their war fever without any major risk of suffering any catastrophic setbacks.
It depressed Ves a bit that the Vesian nobility regarded the Bright Republic as an easy target to bully. Even knowing this didn't help anything as the Kingdom was a bit larger and more populous than the Republic. This gave them an enduring advantage in manpower, industry and more.
"What would it take to end the sequence of wars?" Ves asked morosely.
"There's nothing you can do." Javier chuckled. "Too many of us have grown used to the benefits of the war to consider any alternatives. Bullying the Republic is so fun and it's a good outlet of our stress. It helps us reveal the strong among the weak and it keeps our fighting forces trim and effective. The only way for us to stop the wars for good is if we don't get as much benefits from them or if the cost of fighting you is too much to bear."
It all came down to benefits. The Vesian nobles kept periodically declaring war against the Republic like clockwork because they gained a lot more than they lost. The Bright Republic probably fell into a similar situation seeing that the Tovar Peace Delegation needed to move in complete secrecy.
As someone as powerful as Senator Tovar hadn't managed to gain the complete support of the Bright Republic for his initiative to negotiate a peace, that meant that certain powers and influences within the Bright Republic hungered for war as much as the Vesians did!
That seemed incredibly perverse to Ves!
Lord Javier noticed Ves' reaction to his words. He grinned even wider. "Are you mad?"
"I shouldn't be." Ves shook his head. "I just find it to be a sad state of affairs. Is it really profitable for both of our states to keep waging the same war over and over again? It's just so... senseless."
"It fits with a particular theory the higher ups of both of our states ascribe to. It's a theory that originated from the New Rubarth Empire in response to the old and stagnant Greater Terran United Confederation."
"What are you talking about?" Ves frowned.
"It's called the Societal Vitality Theory. The Rubarthans came up with it when they studied a large range of human and alien societies." Javier enthusiastically explained. "The theory states that the strength and health of a society is determined by how much they fight and how hard their people must struggle to live and prosper. In the early days of humanity's ascension into the stars during the Age of Space, we were some of the lowest species in the galaxy. Yet we somehow managed to outwit superior alien races and get the better of them. Do you know what those supposedly superior races all had in common?"
"They were weak?"
"They were strong. They benefited from greater numbers, larger military and technological superiority. Yet we beat them anyway despite our weaknesses! The main reason why we rolled over them is because they turned out to be weaker than on paper. The alien empires were stagnant and every alien leader gained their positions through taking advantage of their birthright and their political maneuvering. However, when confronted with actual war, most of them turned out to be incompetent when it came to the survival of their species!"
Ves knew the story wasn't so simple, especially in light of the recent revelations about the Five Scrolls Compact guiding humanity from the shadows. Still, Lord Javier's explanation sounded oddly sensible.
"So a state that's been peaceful for a long time is weaker than a state that's been through constant wars? What about the losses and all of the destruction that ensues whenever a war is waged?"
"That's a valid concern. It's difficult to find a war that doesn't hurt yourself more than you can get back." Lord Javier chuckled again. "That's the beauty of the Bright-Vesia Wars, though. They're so predictable and regular that both sides know the overall score. The battles might change, but the outcome will always roughly be set in stone. To the adherents of the Societal Vitality Theory, the wars are the perfect vehicle to keep our states from stagnating into a bunch of paper tigers like the Reinald Republic! The more intense the fighting, the more our invigorated our states become!"
Ves suddenly gained a realization. All his wondering about whether there was a conspiracy behind the Bright-Vesia Wars turned out to be true!
It was just that the conspiracy took on a different form than he expected. It wasn't as if a small number of powerful people from both states met together in a shady, smoke-filled room and diabolically laughed with each other as they plotted to drive their own subjects to their deaths.
Instead, both sides ascribed to this weird theory and believed they would both become stronger if they waged a war every now and then! It was an open if unspoken conspiracy that required no explicit meetings or agreements to commence!
He didn't quite know yet how to regard this perverse circumstances. It seemed extraordinarily callous to him that war was being treated as a tool to shape societies.
"In fact, the Societal Vitality Theory also caught on with the MTA and CFA." Lord Javier boldly claimed. "Do you think they like it that the various human states in the galaxy focus so much on fighting each other instead of the aliens? They probably don't, but they think it's necessary to keep the space peasants busy and on their toes. If they relax too much, not only will their star systems become too overpopulated, their birth rates will also fall below a level that is sustainable if the state ever meets a crisis."
Ves looked up at that. "That sounds contradictory. How can a stagnant state be overpopulated yet find it problematic that their birth rates fall? Isn't that a natural response to overpopulation? Can't states just terraform new stars to settle on if they need more space?"
"It doesn't quite work that way, Ves. Terraforming is an investment and not every planet or star system is valuable enough to exploit. Just take the Reinald Republic again for example. Because they're part of the Frozen Leaf Alliance, no one wants to pick a fight with them. The lack of wars not only lowered their war readiness, they are also suffering from headaches on what to do with their crowded settlements. They're greedy for money for a very good reason, you know. They need money to pay the terraforming companies to make new terrestrial planets habitable to human life. However, these new colonies are mostly a net drain to Reinald's treasury."
"I see." Ves replied. "What about the overcrowding and the lower birthrates? How does that affect the Reinald Republic?"
"The overcrowding and lack of threats makes the Reinaldans complacent. They don't birth as much offspring, they marry later in their lives and generally don't feel any urgency in living their lives. This also means they don't work hard enough to excel in their lives. They have less expert pilots and less Senior Mech Designers than a state of their size ought to have!"
"Is that true?" Ves asked.
"Oh, I'm not a numbers wizard, but all the scientists who studied the Societal Vitality Theory all said so. They say that a society's life pattern adjusts itself to the predominant circumstances. Peace begets a slow, peaceful life pattern because that is the most optimal way the people are able to live their lives. War on the other hand forces people to grow stronger, fight harder and live their lives to the best of their abilities. All the deaths also eases up the overpopulation issue and sustaining high birth rates is seen as the key to sustain a state in the event of a major crisis!"
Ves had mixed feelings about this supposed theory. Lord Javier obviously appeared to be a proponent of the Societal Vitality Theory, and Ves did have to admit that the logic sounded plausible.
It explained some of Senator Tovar's policy decisions. To a shepherd of a state, leaders like him constantly worried over how to strengthen a state and retain its dynamism. Perhaps to Senator Tovar and his ilk, a regular, generational war sounded like just the right answer to maintain the liveliness of the Bright Republic!
Chapter 1014
Ves didn't know whether he should be thankful or regretful to Lord Javier. On one hand, the Vesian noble generously filled him in on the Societal Vitality Theory. On the other hand, it also destroyed his faith in the higher ups of both states!
He used to think that even if the original reasons for the wars no longer applied, both states still warred over legitimate reasons.
The Vesians wanted to conquer the Bentheim System so that they would be able to gain an invincible economic stranglehold on all of the commerce and trade that passed through the surrounding regions.
Bright Republic simply wanted to maintain its territorial sovereignty and defend itself against the foreign aggressor.
Those reasons still applied, but in the backdrop of the Societal Vitality Theory, they rang a little hollow now. To Ves, this diabolical theory served as a force that pushed its proponents to action rather restraint, sometimes to disastrous results!
Ves figured out the reason why Lord Javier brought up this contentious topic. "The main threat to the peace talks is this theory, right?"
"Right! I don't know how many people among the Bright Republic supports the theory, but back in the Kingdom almost every influential noble has sided with it. We admire the Rubarthan way quite a lot!"
The New Rubarth Empire used to be a part of the Greater Terran United Confederation. The latter used to be the only major human entity in the stars. That was a different time back then. The Terrans proved to be too overbearing and mired in bureaucracy to govern their sprawling territories fairly and effectively.
After the Rubarthans declared independence during a time of turmoil for the Terrans, times had changed. The Terrans partially reformed the way they governed themselves, but it was too late by then. The New Rubarth Empire grew into such a substantial power in a short time that they pretty much rivaled the Terrans in might!
Perhaps the rapid but enduring success of the Rubarthans in their galactic rivalry against the Terrans gave the theory a lot of weight. Ves did hear that internal competition and political maneuvering there was rather brutal.
The founder families that eventually founded the Bright Republic used to be aberrant pacifists who tired from all of the infighting and warmongering at the powerful first-rate superstate!
"The constant wars between our states has pretty much enshrined the Societal Vitality Theory among our leaders." Ves speculated. "Proponents of the theory are able to take advantage of the wars to enhance their prestige and further their goals. Those who oppose it on moral or practical grounds won't benefit from the wars unless they give in, which pretty much turns them into hypocrites. I don't see any way we can forge an early peace if that's the case."
Lord Javier threw a patronizing smile at Ves. "You have to think a bit bigger than that, Ves. What is the ultimate goal of adhering to the Societal Vitality Theory? It's to strengthen the social vitality of our states! Why? To strengthen the efficiency, dynamism and military might of our states against other threats! We pursue strength because it is the only thing that keeps us safe against the threats of the galaxy."
As Ves recalled his recent talk with Senator Tovar, he started to gain an understanding of the need for peace. "Is there a greater threat on the horizon?"
"The senator didn't tell me, but I'm not stupid, you know. I'm a good observer, and from what I see the Brighters aboard this ship aren't worried about us Vesians. Instead, they're on guard against a different threat. A greater threat, as you said."
A grave silence fell between the two. The Remembrance's elegant and luxurious dining room didn't host many diners at this time, so hardly any noise interrupted Ves' contemplation.
The implications of this theory probably led to a lot of unnecessary wars. At least, unnecessary to the average people. To the proponents of the theory, war was a great tool to invigorate a state!
"Is there any proof that it actually works?"
"Sure." Javier shrugged. "First of all, the strength and prestige the Rubarthans gained in their early years against the stagnant and corrupt Terrans is a powerful historical case. The Rubarthans trounced the Terrans in almost every aspect because the latter have become so stale that they reacted like fossils to something they adequately planned against beforehand. Over the years, the rise and success of many other states over their more peaceful rival has given the theory strong support."
"I don't think it's that simple. Sure, a war might be able to invigorate a state as you say it, but it might also just cause them to suffer far more damage than they get in return. I bet the researchers aren't so eager to study the failures. Perhaps the survivor bias plays a huge role in making those determinations."
"Hey, what do you take them for? They're smart enough to take that into account. At least I think so." Lord Javier scratched his head. "Whatever. The point is that we've not only seen this kind effect among human states, but also among the various alien empires. Before humanity came along, most of the galaxy got carved up by the same old alien races. The balance of power largely remained the same and nobody powerful felt eager enough to fight because the super low birth rates of the Seven Apex Races makes any serious war too costly."
"Humans don't suffer from that problem." Ves remarked as he followed the logic of the Societal Vitality Theory. "Compared to those powerful alien races that depend on exotics to propagate their species, our growth rate as a species is enormous. All the setbacks we've suffered against the aliens during the Age of Stars and Age of Conquest never put us down for long. Instead, we bounced right back with our explosive birth rate."
A comparison between different human states did not yield any drastic differences. However, when Ves compared human civilization to the previously dominant alien civilizations, their traits diverged enormously.
The birth and growth rates central to the logic behind the Societal Vitality Theory formed one of the most powerful advantages of the human race! No major alien race at the time could keep up with the constant growth and expanding population of the upstart humans!
Of course, with the Five Scrolls Compact acting behind the scenes, humanity's rise could not solely be attributed to these reasons alone. Ves did not think any further in this direction because he hardly knew anything about this line of questioning.
"It's a different time now, you know?" Lord Javier said as a couple of bots started to deliver his dishes. He came to the dining room to eat, after all. "During the Age of Stars and the first half of the Age of Conquest, we humans largely pointed our guns outwards against the aliens. We took their stars, their technology, their resources and repeated it over and over again as we gobbled up the galaxy. What a great time to be alive back then!"
For various reasons, the exponentially-accelerating conquest and expansion began to stall halfway into the Age of Conquest. The surviving alien races no longer remained complacent against the humans that threatened to gain complete control over the galaxy. They set aside their long-standing rivalry and animosity against each other and presented a somewhat united front against the galactic threat that was humanity!
At some point, the various human states that made up human civilization found it increasingly difficult to fight against the aliens. Eager to fight but with no alien opponent in reach, they instead began to turn their weapons against each other!
"Is the Societal Vitality Theory an attempt to go back to the glory days of humanity's rise?" Ves asked.
"Kind of." Lord Javier nodded. "Well, it's more of an attempt to prevent our society from backsliding. If we all grow too fat and happy of our current accomplishments, the aliens staring hatefully at us will give us a nasty surprise. Life must constantly be a struggle if we are to stay strong. This applies to both humans and aliens. Now that we've dethroned the Seven Apex Races and chased them out of their ancestral territories, they're holding a lot of grievances against us. You can bet they aren't relaxing while they're plotting our race's demise."
Ves had difficulty seeing the relevance of looking at humanity from so far above. "All of this sounds very high-minded. We're not the masters of the human race. Is there any point for us to think that way?"
"Why not?" The noble shrugged. "At least it's essential for me to be familiar with the arguments if I want to fit in with the rest of my class. It's also useful for you as well, you know. With all the wars, skirmishes and other fights taking place throughout the galaxy, a lot of mechs are used up. What fuels the mech industry? Battle! The more battles taking place, the more mechs you can sell! Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"
This observation caused Ves to feel a bit troubled. He couldn't refute this logic. The mech industry would have been a lot less dynamic and a lot harder to participate in if battles rarely broke out. Mechs lasted about five years with intensive use and ten years with moderate use.
However, if the amount of fights in the Komodo Star Sector decreased by ninety percent, then most mechs would be able to reach their full nominal lifespan of twenty years!
On top of that, the vastly reduced fighting pressure would also prompt many forces to delay the acquisition of newer mechs. Why waste money on upgrading their mech lineup when their existing mechs already did the job? With good maintenance, a mech could conceivably last up to forty years without any marked degradation in performance!
The longer mechs survived on average, the lower the demand for new mechs. This all reflected back to the mech industry which would be forced to shrink and lower their production in response to the anemic amount of activity in the mech market.
Put simply, mech designers like Ves enjoyed good times as long as there was a lot of fighting going! While Ves was already aware of this simple truth to an extent, when looking through the lens of the Societal Vitality Theory, he became aware that it was advantageous for him to be one of its proponents!
However, his shock at these revelations hadn't faded yet for him to make up his mind about the theory. While a strong part of Ves pushed him to agree with the theory, he instinctively felt he'd become an abhorrent person if he did so. What made him any better than the likes of Lord Javier and Senator Tovar if he started to believe in their common ideology?
"Surely not everyone agrees with this radical theory, right?" Ves pushed back. "It sounds very controversial and its implications are incredible massive. There are bound to be critics to what appears to be a justification for warmongering."
Lord Javier rudely flipped his fingers while he ate. "Sure. Not everyone agrees. But they don't last very long. A lot of states that emphasized peace and other happy stuff grew weak to the point they got conquered by other states that actually invested in the strength of their military and society. Hippies and peace-loving idiots make for awful leaders because they don't understand that those who don't share in their beliefs are always stronger and not afraid to flex their power."
It sounded like a sad state of affairs, but every person who grew up in these times became used to the constant warring between the human states.
Right now, the Societal Vitality Theory sounded like a justification more than anything else. What was so bad about giving to humanity's darker impulses when all the despots and warlords could draw upon the theory to excuse all of the death and suffering they engendered?
Ves equated the Societal Vitality Theory to a rationale for death!
Chapter 1015
For better or worse, Ves opened up his eyes to the dominant theory, or should he say ideology, that many human rulers and policymakers worshipped.
It sounded compelling. It looked as if it made sense. It had an enormous body of historical cases to back up its claims.
Yet... Ves felt very uneasy how it casually brushed aside the very destructive cost of adhering to the theory's recommendations. Any leader who wanted their states to retain their strength and war readiness and avoid sliding into peaceful indolence and hedonism would likely wanted to manufacture a war of some sorts!
At this moment, Ves could not offer any strong arguments against the Societal Vitality Theory. As much as the wars, deaths and destruction enormously consumed the human race, he also had to admit that it did a decent job keeping them strong and alert. This placed the human civilization in a much better state against external enemies such as the alien races.
However, the most pernicious cost was that much of humanity began to see themselves as enemies.
Ever since humanity turned their animosity and their weapons against themselves, the killing of humans became normalized. Although the Age of Conquest saw this norm being pushed too far, even during the Age of Mechs it became completely acceptable to kill fellow humans in the pursuit of power and wealth.
The rulers didn't care. Mainly the lower classes suffered the brunt of following this ideology. Those who ruled from the top sat in their ivory towers directing more pigs to the slaughter.
In their drive to invigorate their state and raise its vitality, they needed to keep birth rates high and give their citizens a sense of urgency in their lives. Yet to do so would also lead to overpopulation, which was an extremely expensive problem.
The galaxy was huge. It contained an uncountable amount of star systems and even more terrestrial planets in various shapes and sizes. Yet to make them suitable for human habitation took both time and investment.
All the most profitable and easiest planets already got terraformed. If states wanted to accommodate an ever-growing population, they needed to start converting less attractive planets for human habitation. As ever-poorer colonies came into being, the state bore a greater burden as it cost a lot of money to raise a colony and to grow it into a proper settlement. Sometimes, these colonies never paid back the investment put into its development as it offered very little exports to the rest of the state!
Therefore, to solve the dilemma of high birth rates but a finite limit on population, leaders needed some way to relieve the pressure.
Therefore, war served as the most convenient pressure relief valve. Lots of people got killed. Lots of property and assets got destroyed.
Yet those who survived felt a greater need to recover what they lost and rebuild what was broken. The people became more industrious. The people worked harder. The people never took their luxuries for granted.
As long as the cost of wars remained within the boundaries of what was acceptable to the rulers, such a cycle was actually productive and beneficial to the society in question.
Adopted at a wider scale among the level of the entire human civilization, it kept the human race from suffering the same flaws that made the other alien races so weak against unexpected aggression.
At least if you believed in the Societal Vitality Theory.
While Ves did not have the qualifications to question sociologists and other stuffy academics about the validity of this theory, he nonetheless felt it possessed an innate flaw. He just couldn't quite pin it down at the moment.
Aside from that, the Societal Vitality Theory also suffered from the plutocratic consequence of high-minded policy ignoring the very human cost of their actions.
The Bright-Vesia Wars for example killed billions of people over a span of four centuries. Even more of them lost their homes, their relatives, their livelihoods and more. The Bright Republic could have allocated all of that prosperity into bettering the lives of their citizens rather than fuel a perpetually-hungry war machine.
Yet that was also what the Societal Vitality Theory aimed to fight against. It encouraged leaders to guide their state towards investing their resources into the military. Civil infrastructure and the welfare of the people played second fiddle to maintaining strength.
Ves thought of all of this as he sat silent in the dining room, his half-eaten meal forgotten. Lord Javier meanwhile took the silence as an opportunity to gobble up his own sumptuous steak.
"Hmmm! This is good!" Javier praised. "Much better than the nutrient packs you Vandals stuffed in my mouth! You should really try some!"
To someone like Lord Javier, he inherited his stance on the Societal Vitality Theory from Count Loqer, his father. In turn, Count Loqer inherited his beliefs from his own father, and so on. Even if a parent didn't pass on those beliefs, their peers would make sure their fellow leaders were on the same page.
Ves narrowed his eyes at Lord Javier. "Why did you take the time to explain the Societal Vitality Theory to me? You're awfully charitable for a Vesian noble."
"I'm a hostage. There's no two ways about it." The noble shrugged. "Even I know that I have to set aside my old behavior and suck up to my captors. The worst Vesian nobles are those who are good at one thing but bad at adapting to changing circumstances. If there is anything my father has taught me, it is to be as adaptable as a chameleon and as slippery as an eel when you fall into trouble."
"That still doesn't answer my question."
Lord Javier smirked. "Oh, alright. You looked so confused and out of place on this ship. It's like seeing a fish flopping about on the ground next to a lake. As a generous noble, I felt it was my duty to pick up the fish and throw it back into the lake. Even if I don't obtain any gratitude from my captors, I'll at least be able to make a good impression on the poor fish."
"What a peculiar analogy to compare me to a fish flopping about for water." Ves replied dryly. He didn't know whether he should be thankful or indignant at being treated as a charity case. "That said, although I somewhat regret learning about it, thank you for filling me in on this supposed theory. If you haven't been pulling my leg, then you've given me a lot to think about for the rest of my life."
Certainly, Ves did not believe that Lord Javier invented this theory out of the blue. It fit too much with what he saw and how humans worked these days. The theory offered a logical underpinning to the continued phenomenon of the incredibly costly Bright-Vesia Wars and the persistent infighting among other human states that many believed held human civilization back from advancing.
"Now that I've given you the lowdown on what people like Senator Tovar and myself really think when they look at subjects, you should give me something in return." Lord Javier suddenly demanded as he finished his main course.
"Pardon?"
"C'mon. You're a hotshot mech designer right? Camden Tovar isn't the kind of man to invite a loser to his peace delegation. I've met most of them already and each and everyone of them is either wealthy, influential or an authority in their fields of expertise. You don't look like you fit in any of the three categories, but your youth makes you promising."
"I'm almost thirty standard years, you know."
"Same." Javier shrugged. "Yet compared to those other bastards who are fifty to eighty years old, we're as young as babes. To an old fossil like Senator Tovar, we might as well be fetuses who barely started crawling out of our mothers' wombs. Ah, no offense to you if you were born from an artificial womb."
"It's okay. I'm natural born."
"Good. Anyway, regardless of what Senator Tovar sees in you, he must at least see something in your mech design ability. You're good at designing mechs, right?"
"I founded the Living Mech Corporation which grew into a multibillion bright credit company in just a couple of years." Ves bragged, feeling the need to puff himself up for some reason. "I've only dabbled with variants for a year or so before immediately transitioning to selling original mech models that I've designed all by myself! Even with just two premium product lines, my company is selling hundreds of mechs per month, a large proportion of which are exported the the entire star sector!"
Lord Javier subtly shifted his attitude towards Ves in a more respectful manner. "That does sound impressive."
"On top of that, I've also become apprenticed to Master Carmin Olson of the Vermeer Group! I'm also a member of the Leemar Institute of Technology's Clifford Society."
The awe in Lord Javier's eyes increased even further, though the noble also smirked again. "I know that apprenticeships to Masters is a big deal in the mech industry. However, you don't look like a direct disciple. You wouldn't be tagging along with Senator Tovar and you would have already heard about the Societal Vitality Theory if that's the case. You're one of those nominal disciples, right? Hah! A Master can accumulate hundreds of those without a care! Apprentices like that are just cheap labor that are loyal to them because their Master threw them a bone when they needed something to gnaw upon. Master Mech Designers aren't as generous as you think."
While Lord Javier's words resonated with him, Ves still wanted to defend Master Olson's conduct. Regardless of her lack of attention to Ves, he never really needed a lot of handholding in the first place. Allowing him to enjoy the status of being apprenticed to a Master from the Friday Coalition and being able to enter the Clifford Society as a privileged Knight instead of a servile Squire benefited him immensely.
"My connection to Master is a mutually beneficial relationship. It is not uncommon for me to pay back her generosity." Ves settled on a neutral-sounding reply. He couldn't very well badmouth his own Master. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't insinuate any insults towards a Master Mech Designer in my presence."
Every mech designer became ingrained to the hierarchy of mech designers. Those who advanced to Journeymen, Senior, Master all worked hard to reach their heights. Every fellow mech designer recognized the amount of struggle and sacrifice they paid to fulfill their dreams.
"Alright, alright, for a mech designer you sure are sensitive."
That was an odd remark to Ves. "You're poking around into matters I don't want poking."
"Whatever. My point still stands. You should open your big brains of yours and spill something good. What do you think of my old mech, the Loquacious Raphael? It's a good work, right?"
Ves recalled that insanely capable custom mech. "It's... expensive. Very capable in the right hands, as it did when you piloted it. I'm very impressed by its ability to facilitate fake resonance. It's a quality work designed by a quality mech designer."
"It sounds like there's a 'but' there."
"It's a custom mech. It's expensive. A very good mech designer spent a lot of time and effort tailoring it to your piloting style and your individual demands. How many mech pilots are able to enjoy such an extravagant privilege?"
"Do you have something against custom mechs?" Javier asked with a puzzled frown.
"Not as such. I'm actually interested in entering the market for custom mechs as well in the future. However, the majority of my customers won't be noble scions such as you who possess a budget the size of a star system's entire yearly earnings. How much of your performance back then during the Detemen Operation can be attributed to your skill as opposed to the quality of your Loquacious Raphael?"
Lord Javier narrowed his eyes at Ves in an ominous fashion. "Did you just question my skill?"
Chapter 1016
"Don't get me wrong." Ves defended himself. "You're obviously a good mech pilot, even if you have your tutors and your rich background to thank for that. Paired with a mech that fits you like a glove, you're able to outfight an entire mech squad by yourself. However, you enjoy a great privilege that most mech pilots or even mech champions get to enjoy."
Lord Javier understood that Ves did not mean to insult him and loosened up a bit. "Some people are born of a higher station than others. But don't you think that I fought hard to get where I am? Mech pilots don't become as good as me if you don't put enough effort! I damn well deserved my custom mech! Thanks for destroying it, by the way. When the peace talks finally concludes, I'll go back and commission another custom mech, not that I think there's much hopes of it happening."
"Why do you say so?"
The Vesian noble gestured with his arm. "Because the Bright-Vesia Wars have repeated the same pattern for so many times it's practically a tradition for our two states! You don't casually interrupt a long-standing tradition. You'll piss off a lot of people for doing so! I'll bet there are plenty of people out there who want to stop Senator Tovar by any means possible."
"Are they really so short-sighted?" Ves frowned. "From what I hear, Senator Tovar has a very good reason for suggesting an interruption of the current war."
"A greater threat, yeah I heard. Senator Tovar informed me in person so that when I get in touch with my fellow nobles, I'll be able to convince them of the necessity of halting the war. Well, good luck with that. With how widely our state encourages our subjects to support the war, halting it at this point will be taken as a major betrayal! It would be like putting ourselves between a crashing starship and a planet! There is too much momentum behind the war and suggesting an abrupt end to it will mark us as cowards and traitors to our respective states!"
Both the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom treated the accusations mentioned by Lord Javier very seriously. With the wars lasting four or five years on average, it was deeply taboo for anyone to advocate for peace.
Peace at this stage meant giving in to the enemy. Peace meant begging the enemy to stop the fight. Peace meant admitting that you couldn't take it anymore and wanted to throw in the towel!
In summary, supporting peace meant harming the interests of the state at the time where it needed the support of its citizens the most!
From that perspective, Lord Javier raised a very good point. Supporters of the upcoming peace talks began with an inherent disadvantage. The inertia that took hold in both states both pushed them into continuing the same old war without any deviations!
"There will be people who question Senator Tovar's claims?"
"You underestimate how obstinate we can be when it comes to supporting the war!" Lord Javier chuckled. "Even if the senator whipped out direct footage of an impending threat headed in the direction of our states, the warmongers will still blindly stick to their beliefs that we need to fight the good fight to the fullest! Proof can be fabricated and claims can be spun from modest facts. There is no way that those predisposed to war are ever going to seriously contemplate the possibility of peace?"
"Not even if all of the Seven Apex Races invade the Komodo Star Sector in unison?"
"They'll keep shouting about fighting the Brighters or Vesians as the aliens come and shoot disintegration rays at them! If you know these people as well as I do, you'll realize that the diehards among us won't ever give in! The war is their life and their greatest obsession!"
"Is this what the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom has morphed into over the centuries?" Ves lamented. "Two conflict-driven states that are too afraid of their withdrawal symptoms as soon as their regularly-scheduled war is cut short?"
All of this sounded quite depressing to Ves. He would have thought the people in power would be wise and rational enough to set aside their interests in the war if they heard word a greater that was coming in their way. Yet according to Lord Javier, the inertia for war was so strong that it was nearly unstoppable!
"Anyway, let's not talk about the war, Ves. That's a headache for Senator Tovar. Anyway, you never did tell me something useful about mechs. Come now. Spill something."
Ves wracked his mind for something to say. "Well, there's rumors in the mech industry that the next generation will see an advancement in offense over defense. Laser weapons will particularly enjoy a significant bump in effectiveness. If you want to go with the times, you should pilot a laser rifleman mech."
"No thanks." Javier lazily grinned and leaned back on his dining seat. "I like to have my cake and eat it too. I know hero mechs get a bad rap sometimes, but it's really convenient for me to pilot a mech that's deadly both at range and up close. I don't like the way that mechs from third-rate states in the galactic rim are so overspecialized."
"That's easy for you to say, scion of House Eneqqin. Most mech pilots only enjoy so much training. They also have to make do with mechs purchased from a limited budget."
"Still, it's ridiculous that we've accepted that mechs are supposed to be good at one narrow role but godawful at everything else! Don't you think it's stupid that a big and powerful rifleman mech is deadly at range but collapses as soon as a light skirmisher runs up and stabs it with the mech equivalent of a toothpick? Isn't it ridiculous that a heavy knight can withstand and entire mech squad's worth of firepower but isn't even expected to whip out a pistol to hit them back? Why can't a mech have it both ways?!"
Ves shook his head at such talk. "It's not that simple. Do you think we mech designers intentionally specialize mechs?"
"Why not? If you sell someone a swordsman mech, they still need to cover their ranged options. That gives you the opportunity to sell them a rifleman mech."
"Despite what you think, Lord Javier, we are not perpetrating a scam. When we design a mech, we have to make many compromises. A mech can either be good at one aspect or passable in many aspects. The only way to step out of this dichotomy is to spend an awful lot of money to design a singular mech that can do it all, but is just one machine. Would you rather have one fantastic hero mech like the Loquacious Raphael, or two full mech companies with a balanced mix of ranged and melee mechs?"
Most mech buyers favored the latter. A single mech, no matter how good, could never beat eighty average mechs unless it was an expert mech!
While Lord Javier may be a talented and highly-trained mech pilot on par with the best of the Larkinson mech pilots, he was no expert pilot!
Every mortal mech pilot possessed limits. From an economic and efficiency standpoint, mech buyers got a lot more bang for their credits if they avoided the drawbacks of diminishing returns by procuring a large number of cheaper but more efficient mechs.
However, Lord Javier seemed to have some difficulty understanding the concept of limited budgets and resources. To a noble raised in the lap of luxury, how could he accept Ves' arguments?
"Okay, let's put this into the perspective of a mech pilot instead of a mech buyer. Not every mech pilot is good at everything, right?" Ves pressed. "Wouldn't it be a total waste to allocate a swordsman mech to an excellent marksman? A much more expensive and less effective hybrid mech or hero mech would just be an enormous waste of money because the mech pilot would only make use of its range capabilities."
This seemed to hit home with Lord Javier. The noble began to look more thoughtful. "I guess that's true. Almost no one is as good as me or worked hard to be good at both swordsmanship and marksmanship. Perhaps it does make some sense for my lessers to pilot simplistic mechs."
"Wow, Lord Javier. Maybe you should tone down the arrogance."
"Heh! If you're as good as me, why should I hide my talents?"
"As far as I know, you're not an expert pilot or even an expert candidate. I don't think you have much cause to boast if that's the case."
Ves brutally poked Lord Javier's bubble, causing him to drop his grin.
The worst part was that it was Ves who said it. While he wasn't an expert pilot, he was related to the famed Larkinson Family, who somehow managed to spawn expert pilots in each generation!
"It's really crappy that the Larkinsons aren't as powerful as the Tovars in the Bright Republic." Lord Javier jabbed back in revenge. "What did the Tovars contribute to your state? Sure, they invested money in the original colonization fleet that led to the founding of your state, but what have they done since? They took advantage of their starting point and held their grip on power ever since. The Tovars and most of the other founder families are famous for their influence in the government and in the economy. As for the military? You don't hear about heroic Tovars fighting right in the frontlines of the wars. Not like you Larkinsons. I respect that, you know."
"Thanks... I think. However, I don't think it's a good idea to disparage the Tovars aboard one of their own ships."
Lord Javier huffed. "I'm a Vesian. I'm entitled to roast the Bright Republic! And I sure do have a lot to say about your hypocritical and duplicitous state! You Brighters always oppose the way we run the Kingdom but as far as we're concerned, your rulers are a lot more despotic than ours! Don't you see that your five main founder families are resting on their laurels for centuries, leeching off the hard work and sacrifice of their citizens to live their lives in luxury? For all of their professed adhere to the Societal Vitality Theory, they always impose struggle on their subjects and never on themselves!"
"Your inverting white into black!" Ves accused. "Just because the Bright Republic isn't entire egalitarian doesn't mean the Vesia Kingdom is a ray of sunshine in our corner of the galaxy. You nobles feast like kings while you exploit your commoners. They are just one step above slaves as far as the Bright Republic is concerned!"
"Heh. That's their lot. But don't pretend our underclass is any better than ours. In your society, it's almost impossible to better their station because the founder families and most of your upper class has a stranglehold on the upper echelons of power. At least in my state, we have to fight for our benefits! Our struggle never ends! To soft Brighters like you, it probably seems as if we're obsessed with infighting. We're not fighting each other for the heck of it, but because we have to stay sharp! The Vesia Kingdom is in fact a meritocracy in the true sense of the word! Those who are talented and fight hard get to climb up the ranks of nobility while those who are useless despite their high births are quickly taken out of power!"
Ves couldn't believe the nonsense Lord Javier spewed from his mouth. What the hell? How could he make the Vesia Kingdom sound like a benevolent meritocracy while painting the Bright Republic as a state in the grip of uncrowned kings?
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
"No Brighter will ever believe your nonsense. Your narrative only makes sense to your own people."
Javier grinned even wider. "Just because a noble like me is saying it doesn't make it any less true. Admit it. The Bright Republic is a lot more rotten than the Vesia Kingdom. The sooner you recognize this truth, the sooner you'll stop getting taken advantage of by the likes of the Tovar Family. Say, you look like a decent mech designer. If the peace talks ever end well and I'll be free to go back to the Imodris Duchy, why not come with me? I'll make sure you're treated well in the Kingdom!"
What?!
"Preposterous!" Ves slammed his fist against the sturdy table. "I'll never defect! Let alone the fact that I'm a Brighter, I'm also a Larkinson! It's in our blood to serve the Republic!"
However, his behavior only played into Lord Javier's expectations. "Spoken like a true sheep. No wonder the Larkinson Family never climbed their way up to the top. It seems you are too used to being the Republic's lapdogs to know that you deserve better."
With those damning words, Lord Javier wiped his lips with a napkin and left the dining room.
Chapter 1017
After his lengthy conversation with Lord Javier, Ves struggled to make sense of the implications of what he heard. While talking with the Vesian noble opened his mind to the perspective of a future Vesian leader, it also sent him into confusion.
Some of the things that Lord Javier said was too preposterous! Yet the problem was that Ves couldn't quite offer a strong retort!
Shortly after he returned to his cabin, Secretary Lowe knocked on his hatch. As soon as he entered, he made the purpose of his visit clear.
"We're aware that you've met with Lord Javier of House Eneqqin."
"Is he supposed to run around freely on the ship?"
"He is never out of sight and we have assigned guards to shadow him wherever he goes."
"So what prompted this visit?"
"I've come for two reasons, Mr. Larkinson. First, Senator Tovar is aware that you've spoken extensively with Lord Javier. For the duration of the journey, he wishes for you to keep in touch with the noble. It's best if you befriend each other."
"What? Become friends with a Vesian noble? Do you know how pompous he is?" Ves frowned.
"It is exactly because he is a Vesian noble that it is worth it for you to attempt to befriend him. Remember the purpose of this journey. We are on the way to discuss the possibility of achieving an early halt in the war. In order to accomplish such a difficult task, we must charm and befriend our Vesian counterparts. Consider befriending Lord Javier as a practice run. As long as you can tolerate his presence and share something in common with him, you'll do better once the real peace talks begin."
The secretary's words rang true to Ves. He could see the logic in it. If Ves could buddy up with someone as loathsome as Lord Javier, he would probably be able to schmooze with the rest of his kind of people at the site of the peace talks.
Still, Ves felt inherently disgusted at the thought of deepening his association with Lord Javier. As a Brighter, he didn't think he was compatible with someone as unabashedly Vesian as that detestable noble scion!
Secretary Lowe picked up on Ves' struggle to accept the assignment. "You are troubled, aren't you, Mr. Larkinson? Words are words. No matter what Lord Javier says, you must stay true to your Brighter heritage."
"That's easy for you to say, but how am I supposed to deal with it? I feel like I'll go mad if I keep listening to the nonsense that Lord Javier spews on a regular basis."
"This is the other reason why I've come. Can I sit down?"
"Go ahead."
Ves sat on the seat next to the desk terminal while Secretary Lowe sat on the surface of the bed.
After making himself comfortable, the diplomatic aide began to explain. "The topics that Lord Javier brought up all have their roots with the Rubarthan way of thought. The New Rubarth Empire still exerts a marked influence on the Komodo Star Sector despite being separated by tens of thousands of light-years. If you know your history, then you know that the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom are both off-shoots of the imperialistic first-rate superstate. What's the difference, then?"
"The Bright Republic adopted the republic system while the Vesia Kingdom descended into a feudal system."
"That's the simple, textbook answer that ten-year olds learn by heart in school. Think beyond the obvious. What distinguishes our two states despite our common root? Why did we diverge?"
Ves knew that Secretary Lowe tried to guide him towards an answer, but his mind was still a bit too befuddled to think straight. "I think... the founders of the Bright Republic tried to seek peace, while the founders of the Vesia Kingdom just wanted to rule over their own private kingdom."
"Good answer, Mr. Larkinson. It's close to the answer in my mind. Let me phrase it in this way. The Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom are both distant children descended from the New Rubarth Empire. One is a rebellious child that hates its parent state and rejects their brutal way of life. The other admires its parent state and wants to replicate that glory on their own. Does that make you understand where our two states stand?"
Sometimes, an analogy provided more clarity than a direct explanation. Equating the Bright Republic and Vesia Kingdom as children of the New Rubarth Empire was a refreshingly clear way to describe their relationship between each other. Some of the fog that settled in his mind began to clear.
"I see." Ves said with a thoughtful expression. "So the major differences in the way our states turned out to be is due to how much we diverged from our roots? Does the New Rubarth Empire still matter out here in the galactic rim?"
Secretary Lowe gave him a patronizing smile. "Mr. Larkinson, the entire galaxy has adopted most of Rubarth's core beliefs. The Societal Vitality Theory that the New Rubarth Empire has espoused as the principal reason for their revolution and breakaway from the stagnant Terrans is in vogue among many states throughout the galaxy. There is word that even the aliens have taken note of this theory in an attempt to patch up their shortcomings."
This was a bold claim! Despite the pervasive presence of the MTA and CFA throughout much of the galaxy, Secretary Lowe boldly stated that it was actually the Rubarthan school of thought that became the most dominant ideology across the stars!
The strangest thing about this statement was that Ves felt as if it wasn't wrong!
"What about the Terrans?" He weakly asked.
"The Terrans... even they moved into the direction of the dominant beliefs that underpin New Rubarth Empire, although they do their best to deny it. They are far too proud to concede that the Rubarthans have a better point than them, but make no mistake, the Terrans have also moved in the direction of their breakaway rivals, if only hesitantly and half-heartedly. Their continued shuffling and continued unwillingness to embrace the Rubarthan beliefs has given them the reputation that they are weak and in decline. As far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, the Rubarthan model is the best blueprint that human civilization should follow!"
All of these assertions sounded extremely bold. Yet when Ves thought about his exposure to the Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire, he did have to admit that the influence of the latter first-rate superstate was much more pervasive across the Bright Republic.
Ves hardly heard anything great about the Terrans. Of course, sheer distance played a major part in why the Terrans never came up in the news, yet this did not explain why Rubarth got mentioned from time to time.
The Terrans represented the old while the Rubarthans represented the new.
The Terrans represented an outdated way of thought while the Rubarthans boldly propagated a newer, stronger way of thought.
The Terrans was past news, a relic of the past that stubbornly clung to life. The Rubarthans on the other hand constantly reached new heights and continued to advance the development of human civilization!
"I feel like we're giving the Terrans an unnecessary bad wrap. They've lost a lot of territory, I admit, but they're still on par with the Rubarthans, right?"
"That's true. The Greater Terran United Confederation is an old but stable polity. As much as the Rubarthans constantly pursue greatness, they are also great risk takers. The Terrans serve as a useful counterpart in that they are as stable as a rock and not prone to chasing after the unknown. Even so, the Rubarthans managed to convince themselves and much of human space that struggling, pushing forward and taking risks is the best way to keep humanity strong and spirited!"
"How does this tie back into the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom?"
"Come now, Mr. Larkinson. After hearing all of this, you should be able to form your own opinion. As a native of the Bright Republic, how would you describe the ethos of your home state?"
Ves furrowed his brows as he summed up his beliefs about his home state. "I would say that the Bright Republic is a state that attempts to be more enlightened to the realities of living in this dangerous galaxy. It tried its hand at peace and failed, but even so we reject the barbarity and backwardness of more despotic states."
At least, that was the ideal the Bright Republic should have pursued and what Ves always believed in. Yet his recent encounters with the upper echelons of power made him question whether the Bright Republic was all that different from the barbaric states it always looked down upon.
If the Bright Republic ate up the Societal Vitality Theory like all the other warmongering states, how could it claim to be any better?
"Well spoken, Mr. Larkinson!" Secretary Lowe appeared to take no notice of Ves' ambivalence. "While there is no way of getting around the fact that the Bright Republic has been forced to become pragmatic in their beliefs, we nonetheless hold to an ideal that we must hold ourselves higher as humans. While Senator Tovar does believe that the Societal Vitality Theory is a necessary guide to keep the Republic strong, it does not mean we have to adopt all the other traits and excesses of Rubarth. We do not adopt theories without proof that they are accurate and we do not adopt the customs that are in fashion before evaluating whether they fit with our ideals."
"As opposed to the Vesia Kingdom which has followed much closer in the footsteps of the New Rubarth Empire?" Ves asked back.
"Exactly. While the Vesia Kingdom is nowhere near as sophisticated as the New Rubarth Empire, you can see the resemblance between the two in how they both foster internal competition. In fact, the Vesians went into further extremes by relying on the Bright-Vesia Wars to test whether the heirs of their noble houses are worthy to take up the mantle of the older generation of rulers. Tell me, Ves, do you think it's pleasant for you to live under such a regime?"
"I wouldn't like to live in such a stratified society where commoners are openly treated like dirt by the nobles." Ves replied honestly.
What he didn't say was that the Bright Republic might not be much better with founder families and a small number of plutocrats holding all the most important levers of power. They just did a better job at hiding their pervasive influence.
Ves couldn't help but grow cynical about the sordid ideologies that drove both states to behave in the way they did. Even so, he also felt as if he gained a greater understanding on how the galaxy and human space really worked.
He should be thankful for that, at least.
"The point I'm trying to make is that it is not wrong to be proud of the Bright Republic. You are a son of the Republic, and on top of that you are part of a family with a long and storied history of service to the state! While the Bright Republic may not be the utopia that everyone was hoping for, it is still a stable society where people get rewarded for their work, where mothers can feed, clothe and raise their children in peace, where servicemen get taken care of by the military, where the rule of law is taken seriously and nobody can harm anyone else with impunity and more. Is this not the kind of state that you are proud to be a citizen of, Mr. Larkinson?"
Ves smiled. Those basic truths mostly rang true. While there were differences in the prosperity and development of the different planets of the Republic, there was no doubt that every citizen were largely able to live a fruitful life by pursuing their opportunities.
"A state where the common man or woman isn't treated like dirt is a state worth fighting for!" He declared.
While his conviction didn't sound very specific, Ves formed a simple enough narrative to guide him forward when he navigated the murky politics of high society in the future. That should be enough!
Chapter 1018
The intentions of Senator Tovar on Ves couldn't be more clear. He needed to learn to get along with Vesian nobles and officials.
That didn't necessarily mean that Ves needed to take on a Vesian coat and buy into their values and beliefs. He had to maintain hold of his Brighter identity even as he somehow made nice with the Vesian envoys and attaché.
"Easier said than done." Ves said when Secretary Lowe left his cabin after passing on his message.
Ves benefited a lot from the diplomatic aide's insight. He learned how to cope with Vesian manipulation and distortion.
Simply said, Ves was no diplomat or politician. So why should he get into a substantive debate with those who were? It would be like a farmer talking about mechs to a mech designer. No matter how much the farmer read up by himself, he could never match the sheer amount of knowledge, insight and experience of a formally trained mech designer!
So the first truth that Ves had to keep in mind was that he'd been invited to the delegation to connect with the Vesians as a mech designer!
"The key is not to focus on the differences, but on what we share in common."
Brighters and Vesians may be highly opposed to each other, but as life-long rivals they shared many similarities as well. At the very least, both sides made use of mechs to fight. Ves should be able to connect to anyone with a connection to mechs, not just fellow mech designers.
Connecting with Lord Javier served as a useful practice run. Although the captive Vesian noble on parole admitted that he had an incentive to befriend his captors, Ves figured that he needed the handicap in order to make nice with a Vesian.
He shook his head. "It's so strange to play nice with a Vesian."
Before the war, the Vesia Kingdom had always been a faceless and dormant threat. The ravages of the previous generation's war still scarred the Bright Republic during the period he grew up. Everyone treated it as a particularly deadly war, with many more people dying than the historical trend.
Everyone made mistakes. Everyone underestimated the full scope of the war. Many people paid the price.
Growing up under such an ever-present well of depression among the adults colored Ves against the Vesians. Even if he never met a Vesian before, he already inherited the burning hatred and swelling animosity towards the citizens and combatants of their neighboring state.
It was only until the war began and Ves experienced what it was like to fight against the Vesians that he learned that all of their fears were true. The Vesian Mech Legion might be too fractured to coordinate effectively with each other on a strategic scale, their ferocious mech pilots fought just as well as the professional and highly-trained mech pilots of the Mech Corps!
As the disguised fleet under the protection of the elite 8th Spiral Shockers of the 3rd New Foundation Division made it halfway to the Reinald Republic, Ves began to meet with Lord Javier on a regular basis.
The bored and lonely noble welcomed the company, especially since the security officers aboard the Felicitous Remembrance disallowed him from accessing the galactic net.
These kinds of restrictions broke the illusion of freedom and emphasized his status as a hostage. Even if he could roam around the ship and visit almost every public facility open to passengers, Lord Javier would always be reminded that he was a stranger among enemies.
Sometimes, his arrogance and his confident facade cracked at the strain. The arrival of Ves gave him some very much-needed relief from the absence of peers.
They gathered at one of the luxurious lounge and bar rooms of the Remembrance. Ves looked at the noble scion in confusion. "I'm not a peer. You're the son of a count and the heir to House Eneqqin. You've ruled star systems populated by billions of commoners, each of which are affected by your actions and decisions. I'm just a mech designer."
"You're kind of like the Brighter version of nobility in my eyes." Javier responded with a smile before he took a gulp of his glass of imported beer. "The Larkinson Family could be called House Larkinson and there won't be too much of a difference. The only shortcomings of your house would be that it has way too little wealth and territory for their military contributions."
"The Bright Republic doesn't work that way."
Javier grinned. "Is that so? As I've stated earlier, the Republic and the Kingdom aren't so different. Everything is just a lot less obvious in your state. It's crazy to me that you Larkinsons are content to remain as a middling family! If you Larkinsons threw your lot with the Kingdom instead of the Republic, you would have been at least as powerful as House Eneqqin!"
The Larkinson ancestor used to be a mercenary who worked for the highest bidder. He might as well have gone on to fight for the Vesians instead of the Brighters if the latter hadn't offered the most pay!
Of course, that was just idle speculation from Ves. The historical records from the time of the founding of the Bright Republic were spotty and fragmented.
Although the historians in the family did a great job at reconstructing the missing parts through the use of corroborating sources, it hadn't been entirely clear why the Larkinson Ancestor threw his lot with the Bright Republic.
A lot of employers opened up their coffers in the newly-opened Komodo Star Sector. All of them spent their savings on hiring mercenaries in order to pad their numbers and win the opportunity of a lifetime to capture more valuable territory before the borders became fixed!
Lord Javier turned out to be quite the aficionado when it came to historical battles. "Studying the past is an important aspect for a noble as well as a mech pilot. Through studying our history, we get to understand how you Brighters think, act and fight."
"That sounds surprisingly insightful, coming from you." Ves looked at Javier in mild astonishment. He took a sip of his delightfully warm coffee. As this conversation began to stray into political territory, he quickly steered the topic towards mechs. "How would you characterize the Vesian way of fighting?"
"That's a big question. Too big, in fact." Javier shrugged. "Every duchy has adopted their overall mech doctrines. I'm sure you know some of that considering you served with the Vandals as you gallivated through our space. As a subject of the Duchy of Imodris, I'm most familiar with our own mech doctrine, which heavily focuses on combined arms. We don't believe in putting ourselves into corners. Instead, we try to have a bit of everything and rely on synergy to achieve more than the sum of its parts."
"That kind of sounds like the Imodris mech doctrine spreads itself a little too thin. Won't the lack of focus prevent you from developing a strong specialty?"
"That only matters at the top level. Every mech regiment or private outfit gets to pick and choose what they like, and they know better than to grab a bit of everything. That said, it's really annoying for me to adjust to different mech rosters each time I lead a new unit."
"There's one thing you Vesians have in common, though. You employ missile weapons a lot more frequently than the Bright Republic. Doesn't that get expensive?"
"Pah." Lord Javier sneered. "Missiles are pretty much fire-and-forget at their most basic level of use. The main reason why we employ them so frequently is because it's not as demanding to train a missileer mech pilot as opposed to a rifleman mech pilot. The latter demands actual skill in marksmanship while the former only forces you to tweak the targeting systems before you unleash the missiles."
"You guys don't train your mech pilots that well?"
Lord Javier shrugged. "It depends on which House and which noble is in charge of the mech regiment and mech legion. I know some of my peers aren't as diligent in running their units as others. I don't know. I've never been assigned to a military unit yet. I should have been in contention to lead a mech regiment, but you Vandals came and ruined my Detemen System before I could go through with my commissioning. Thanks for that, by the way."
"You're welcome."
"Sheesh. You could have at least pretended to be contrite."
Ves laughed. "Why bother when you could see through my act?"
"It's the thought that counts. Let me teach you a lesson, Ves. When you go talk to people like me, the way you act and behave in public is more important than your underlying intentions. Just now, I gave you an opportunity to make amends to me so that we would appear closer to each other, at least from a bystander's point of view. That you didn't do so means you slighted me. The public would think that we aren't on the same page."
All of this sounded fairly different from the normal way that Brighters treated each other. The social differences between the classes weren't as wide, so they didn't have to think so much about their public conduct. It was more than sufficient enough to act as yourself, though you would also have to make sure to be polite.
As Ves interacted more and more with Lord Javier, he became more exposed to the cultural differences between their states and social classes.
Ves particularly took note of the bearing he needed to adopt as a member of a higher social class. He still clung too much to his former identity as an average citizen of the Republic. Even back when he studied mech design at Rittersberg, he didn't pay too much attention to the elitist clubs and social circles at the capital planet.
He never considered himself to be capable of reaching a high station in his life! He thought it would be a pipe dream to become the head of a multi-billion mech manufacturing company within a couple of years!
Propelled with the help of his unique advantages, his rapid ascension came so suddenly that Ves still hadn't fully adjusted his attitude in a way that befitted his new station in life.
"You already possess the confidence and the arrogance of a successful mech designer and magnate." Lord Javier eyes Ves in a critical manner. "I think the problem is that you're still too stuck in your past as an average Joe to shed your modesty."
"What's so wrong about being modest?"
"There's a difference in being modest and being understated. Just look at Senator Tovar for example. That man doesn't dress extravagantly or demand or your obedience outright. However, the way he naturally acts already commands obedience without saying so. Sure, his status helps out a lot, but that man is a born leader no matter where he goes or who he talks to. That's classy. As for you..."
"As for me?" Ves wondered.
"You're kind of a mix between a dork and a boss. Sometimes, I get the sense that you are capable of being in charge, but you're restraining yourself for some reason. Is it because you don't see the need to keep your head high in the presence of someone like Senator Tovar or I?"
What Lord Javier said about Ves seemed very apt to him! Ves himself knew that he acted much more domineering during the times he held authority over a bunch of subordinates. From his time of taking charge of the LMC, to being the temporary head designer of the Vandals, to supervising the bunch of Ansel brats at Frozen Point Research Base, Ves had plenty of practice in exercising leadership.
Yet as soon as he met a bigshot or someone of a higher rank, he instantly adopted a servile demeanor.
"Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Ves, Ves, Ves." Lord Javier shook his head. "If you continue to act like that, people like Senator Tovar will keep rolling over you. If you want to get anywhere in high society, you need to learn how to stand up for yourself even if you're being approached by a CFA admiral. Don't worry. Let Uncle Javier here teach you the ropes."
Chapter 1019
Ves had mixed feelings about the lesson he received from Lord Javier. It basically boiled down to keeping his spine whenever he met someone of a superior class. He not only needed to remember his confidence in himself, but express it in a way that allowed him to gain the respect of others but not to the extent that earned their ire.
"How can you balance between the two?" He asked.
"Most of the time, the people you're meeting aren't worth the effort to placate." Lord Javier answered.
"I don't think that will cut it against someone like Senator Tovar."
"That old geezer is a special case. He and his club of geriatrics are really pissy about etiquette and stuff. They embodied the rules for so long that they're even willing to order the deaths of anyone who acts outside of their expectations."
Ves gulped. "How am I supposed to follow your advice in that case?"
"That's the fun of it all." The noble grinned. "Sometimes, you can get away with it. Earning a powerful person's respect is more than worth it. The better his impression of you, the more he'll be considerate of you. If it backfires, well, just consider it an instance where you gambled and lost. That's life."
"If that's the case, how are you still alive?"
Lord Javier patted his chest. "Because of my backing. Everyone who wants to touch me needs to consider the consequences. Even your Vandals never dared to chop off my head or put me through torture. You know why?"
"They're scared of provoking House Eneqqin and their allies."
"Exactly! Our house was at an apex within the Duchy of Imodris by the time I was still in charge of the Detemen System. I'm sure our prestige took a huge hit from my capture and the Vandal raid, but that's only a temporary setback. As soon as I get back and throw my weight around, our noble house's foundation will be rock solid again."
The situation at House Eneqqin seemed highly precarious to Ves. They depended too much on the powerful father-and-son duo to prop it up and remain in favor to the Duchess of Imodris. Now that Lord Javier failed in the defense of the Detemen System and got captured, one of the two legs of House Eneqqin got cut off!
Even if the noble house somehow managed to reattach its leg, the limb would never be able to function as smoothly as before. The rehabilitation process would be long and arduous, and Ves did not feel entirely hopeful that Lord Javier would have an easy time in power as before.
Of course, Lord Javier didn't express any doubts he would be able to regain his old height. Ves didn't know whether the noble was just pretending to be confident or if he really believed in his own optimistic delusion.
Either way, they still managed to grow somewhat closer despite their many differences. Ves got the sense that besides being deprived of company, Lord Javier also took pity on Ves.
It galled Ves a bit to receive the pity of a Vesian noble, but his self-respect took a backseat when it came to his current assignment. He needed to bear through the occasional indignities if he wanted to become adept at interacting with Vesian nobles and officials.
He figured he made good progress during their daily meetings. Lord Javier never bothered to adjust his attitude in front of Ves so he presented an accurate sample of how the typical Vesian noble would act.
While the Vesian peace delegation wouldn't consist entirely of nobles, it was still important for Ves to be able to gain their respect or acknowledgement when confronted.
As a week went by, Ves figured he was beginning to nail the kind of bearing and conduct suitable to mingle with the Vesians at the upcoming peace delegation.
By now, the fleet almost arrived at the borders of the Reinald Republic. However, this was also the most precarious time for the peace delegation.
The Reinald Republic's propensity of attracting pirates and all sorts of other shady outfits led to a certain amount of instability in the vicinity of the state.
While pirates and other criminals behaved relatively restrained within Reinald's borders, it was pretty much open season at the approaches to the pirate-friendly state.
A lot of illicit traffic flowed through the Reinald Republic's Harkensen System. The fleets and trade convoys that delivered the goods to the Harkensen System didn't teleport there from the other side of the star sector in an instant.
Just like any other starfaring vessel, their ships needed to hop from star to star. While port systems helped shorten the journey and increase security, such convenient steps didn't exist everywhere.
This gave wiley and greedy pirates the opportunity to intercept the shipments. Due to the nature of pirates, not everyone was as formidable or as well-equipped as the old Lydia's Swordmaidens.
In fact, a vast amount of pirates operated from a single converted carrier that hosted just a squad of shambling pirate mechs.
For these bottom feeders to take their ill-gotten goods to the Reinald Republic was nothing less than tempting fate! Larger pirate fleets that consisted of at least three or four carriers easily gobbled up these piddling little solitary pirate vessels.
Considering the strength of the Felicitous Remembrance's escorts, they should have been ruled out as a target. Hardly any pirate gang, no matter how strong, would be crazy enough to risk a direct confrontation against such a well-armed protection force.
The elite Spiral Shockers committed as much as five light carriers disguised as security company vessels from a generic-sounding company called Special Security Limited. While the SSL couldn't openly bring along combat carriers without drawing suspicion about their actual identities, all of their light carriers received a lot of reinforcement that made them substantially more resilient than a typical light carrier for sale in the private sector.
All of those carriers brought at least one full company of spaceborn mechs. While the Spiral Shockers couldn't bring along their expensive and well-designed signature mechs that embodied their names, they at least adopted some great mech models that sold well in the Bright Republic's mech market.
Ves found it regretful that his products wasn't among them, but then again he never designed a spaceborn mech for the LMC either.
"I should really plug that hole in the company's mech catalog. Landbound mechs aren't poor sellers, but spaceborn mechs are a major slice of the mech market that I can't afford to neglect."
The fleet didn't completely neglect landbound mechs either. On top of the Spiral Shockers, Ves also heard that another elite New Foundation mech regiment detached one of their landbound mech companies to the peace delegation as well.
Unfortunately, Ves didn't get to hear the details. He would learn of them soon enough once the fleet arrived at the Harkensen System and the members of the peace delegation shuttled down to the surface of Harkensen II.
Ves already visited Harkensen III and barely managed to make it out alive of Harkensen I. Hopefully, their upcoming visit to the Rittersberg-like administrative planet would progress more like the former than the latter. The Reinaldan Honored Ones should have gotten their act together after suffering a major calamity on their pleasure and tourism planet previously!
That reminded Ves of Miss Calabast and her affiliation to a hidden but surprisingly powerful force of instigators, terrorists and mass-murderers.
He never really got the full story about their abrupt attack, only that this mysterious force once placed a lot of untraceable mechs and mech pilots deep in hiding. They should have built up their strength and stayed hidden for a couple more years if the hunt for the Starlight Megalodon didn't come and provoked them into action early.
Ves suddenly paused. Could this mysterious force that originally aimed to destabilize or outright destroy Harkensen I be the greater threat that Senator Tovar cautioned about?
"It might also be something else entirely."
While none of the officials aboard the Remembrance ever defined the supposed threat, Ves basically narrowed it down to three possibilities.
"The first possibility is that it's another state within the Komodo Star Sector."
This was the simplest and most probable possibility. There were too many choices to consider, so Ves did not wish to narrow his vision by fixating on a couple of them. He just knew that it could be anyone of them. It could even be an entire coalition of neighboring third-rate states!
"The second possibility is a threat from outside the borders."
This could be either pirates or aliens. Ves pretty much ruled out pirates because he knew that neither the Dragon Alliance or the Ravienne Alliance would have the gumption to cross the CFA's bottom line by boldly crossing over into civilized space. That would just provoke the CFA into sending out their war fleets to stomp out the large and easily trackable pirate fleets.
So that left the aliens, and the only alien race of note in the vicinity of the Komodo Star Sector was the sandmen!
Could it be Sigrund stirring up the pot? Ves found it rather unlikely, but he couldn't judge Sigrund according to normal logic. The hybrid alien AI was too unfathomable for a human like Ves to predict. Perhaps he took control of the sandmen race and sent them all on a suicide charge against the Komodo Star Sector in order to further some other nefarious purpose.
"The third possibility is a threat from other star sectors."
While warfare across sector borders didn't happen all that often, it was not entirely unheard of. Star sectors mainly kept to themselves because it was very troublesome for regular starships to cross over to another star sector.
Star sectors weren't determined by drawing artificial lines through empty space! They were based on the natural gravitic fluctuations and turbulence!
In common parlance, gravitic walls separated star sectors from each other, making most conventional FTL travel that relied on transitioning into higher dimensions extremely dangerous.
However, fixed channels called gravitic streams ran through the walls at various points that provided a possibility for starships to cross into other star sectors.
Not just any ship could travel through the violent and turbulent gravitic streams. Without a robust and powerful FTL drive designed for this specific purpose, a ship could forget about surviving the journey without getting splattered all over the higher dimensions.
This didn't even include other complicating factors that made travel between star sectors so perilous and unpredictable. Phenomena such as gravitic tides and gravitic tsunamis all hindered cross-star sector travel and drove up the cost of transporting passengers and goods throughout the galaxy.
This was also the biggest reason why there was such a high threshold to importing and exporting mechs over multiple star sectors. The high prices charged by transportation, insurance and security companies involved with escorting products through a gravitic stream only made the effort worth it if the mechs involved possessed high profit margins.
If it was already this difficult to ship commercial products to other star sectors, then it was just as difficult for military forces to cross over their fleets into hostile star sectors!
"It's too troublesome."
Therefore, while invasions from one star sector to another did happen every now and then, Ves didn't figure it wasn't worth the trouble in this case. The Majestic Teal and Vicious Mountain Star Sectors that bordered the Komodo Star Sector both needed to unite before they would ever contemplate such a risky venture!
As Ves continued to juggle between the three possibility within his mind, an alarm suddenly sounded out.
It was a very familiar alarm to Ves. "A hostile force has arrived!"
Right now, the peace delegation's fleet had just stopped over in a well-frequented star system and just waited to cycle their FTL drives before making the next hop.
However, a major pirate fleet suddenly transitioned out of FTL close enough to pose an acute threat to the fleet!
Chapter 1020
As a civilian passenger ship, the Felicitous Remembrance had not been built to participate in battle. While the Tovars made sure to spruce up her defenses and add some other hidden surprises, Ves knew that she possessed no offensive power against a hostile force of spaceborn mechs.
The elite Spiral Shockers would be in charge of defending the Remembrance and the other ships of the disguised convoy. They would also be leading the battle on one of their Special Security Limited-branded light carriers.
Even so, Ves did not feel content at being left out of the fighting. How could he feel reassured when his comm connection and all of the terminals on the ship completely locked down due to the emergency? It wasn't as if he could look through a porthole and track the progress of the battle as the distances involved was too huge to be seen with the naked eye!
"I have to get into the bridge somehow." He decided to himself.
While Lord Javier would definitely be kept locked in his cabin, Ves enjoyed no such restrictions. Perhaps the security officers expected that he would have the sense to return to his cabin on his own accord.
That didn't cut it to Ves.
Thus, when the alarms continued to ring throughout the interior of the Remembrance, he ignored the warning from his comm to return to his cabin and raced towards the bridge at the upper decks.
He passed by a flurry of alert but composed ship ratings securing the ship or moving towards their assigned stations in the event of a battle.
It concerned Ves a bit that the Remembrance immediately entered a state of red alert as opposed to yellow alert.
Normally, the detection of a hostile force present within the star system always merited a yellow alert condition. This signified to the crew that battle could break out at any time, but it was highly likely that it would take a few hours or even days before the enemy came within range to fight.
A red alert on the other hand warned that the enemy force was very close or outright within range to force a fight!
"This isn't a coincidence." Ves concluded.
This implied that the Tovar Peace Delegation's mission, route, timing or whatever else had been leaked! Someone directed a substantial pirate force to arrive just after Senator Tovar's fleet arrived in this quaint star system and began to cycle their FTL drives!
Ves didn't bother speculating on who might have leaked such precise navigation details that could cause a pirate to catch the fleet flat-footed. "That's something for Senator Tovar and the Spiral Shockers to figure out with their smart heads."
He just wanted to be able to witness the battle and be prepared if anything went amiss. If there was anything his long experience with the Vandals had taught him, it was that anything could go wrong!
Even the famed combat prowess of the Spiral Shockers didn't reassure him that he'd be safe in this instance, especially since none of their five mech companies piloted their military mechs. In order to make their disguise convincing, they were forced to use actual commercial-grade mechs, most of which fell into the budget and midrange price range!
"Damnit. Mechs like those can't keep up with the demands of elite military mech pilots!"
It depended partially to what extent the mech regiment's mech designers modified the commercial mechs. Even so, commercial mechs of a certain price range could only tolerate so much adjustments.
As Ves finally arrived in front of the blast doors leading to the bridge, a security checkpoint staffed by a squad of formidable exoskeleton soldiers rudely stopped him in place.
A security lieutenant stomped up to Ves in his exoskeleton armor. "You're not supposed to be here, Mr. Larkinson. Even if you are an attaché from the Mech Corps, you are a passenger aboard this ship. Return to your cabin now or I'll order my men to take you there."
"Please ask Senator Tovar or Lieutenant Colonel Xelven if they have need of my services." Ves requested. "I have relevant combat experience! I've witnessed countless battles against the most vicious pirate gangs of the frontier! I can provide insights that no one else can offer!"
The lieutenant sneered at Ves. "Professor Corus Ventag has already volunteered to officer his services to the defense of our fleet. We have all the mech designer expertise we require, and the Spiral Shockers are more than capable of thrashing a bunch of pirates."
The security officers stationed assigned to the Remembrance all originated from the Spiral Shockers and hence put their complete faith on the strength of their mech pilots. Even if Ves acknowledged that they deserved their reputation, it was still rather reckless of them to dismiss a pirate threat!
Some of them were much trickier in battle than their unsophisticated appearances suggested! No ordinary pirate force would be stupid enough to attack a fleet protected by five spaceborn mech companies!
Usually, Ves would adopt a weaseling tone and try to beg the lieutenant to throw him a bone. However, he figured that such an approach wouldn't soften the obstinate Shocker officer's conviction.
What Ves needed right now was not to placate the lieutenant, but to earn his acknowledgement that he was serious business!
He straightened his back and adopted a more imperious demeanor. "While Professor Ventag is a respected Senior Mech Designer, as far as I'm aware he has not been involved in any combat actions for decades. No mech designer is omniscient. I'm not demanding entry into the bridge. I'm just stating that Senator Tovar and the officers manning the bridge might find it useful to hear some insights from a different perspective."
"My orders state that we do not allow entry of unauthorized personnel. The list of guests that are allowed to enter the bridge is very small, and your name is definitely not among them, Mr. Larkinson. Darkness Eater or not, your place in battle is not at the bridge."
No matter what arguments Ves provided, the lieutenant was like a rock against the tide of words. To a security lieutenant in charge of the vital duty to defend the bridge against any known and unknown threats that approached the blast doors, he stuck to his orders like a barnacle to a seafaring ship.
Ves realized that the Spiral Shockers adopted a much more rigid and traditional attitude towards orders. This was in line with the overall standard of the Mech Corps.
Back when he served with the Vandals, Ves could have just manipulated the Vandals or made use of his prestige to force them into complying with his demands. The Vandals not only grew familiar to Ves over the years, he also proved his capabilities many times.
Sadly, he enjoyed no such standing among the Spiral Shockers. His rich awards might have blinded any other serviceman, but the Spiral Shockers were one of the premier fighting units of the Mech Corps. The elite mech regiment enjoyed a long and storied history and the Darkness Eater medal wasn't even that special to them! They fought and won so many battles that it made Ves' experiences in the frontier seem like an average commute to work!
The pride exuded by the lieutenant and his subordinates made it clear that the Spiral Shockers looked down on Ves. They weren't even unjustified for adopting such an attitude. What help could Ves really give that Colonel Xelven and Professor Ventag hadn't already covered with their respective expertises?
After five minutes of arguing, the security lieutenant finally tired of the distraction and was about to signal some security officers to bring Ves to his cabin.
Ves quickly made his way out of the corridor to the bridge before some goons could drag him back. "Okay, I got the message. I'll be going back myself, no need to draw your guards out of their posts!"
As Ves left the upper decks, he cursed to himself. Even as he suspected that the battle already commenced, he had no idea what kind of threat the Felicitous Remembrance has her Spiral Shocker escorts faced.
It could have been a small pirate force fooled into thinking they stood a chance against the Tovar fleet. It could also be a major pirate armada with enough mechs to outnumber the Spiral Shockers five to one!
Yet without access to the local plot or any of the other ship systems that could tell him about the impending battle in space, Ves felt as if he was cast into the unknown yet again.
He decided to walk to a particular lounge room instead of a cabin on a hunch. To no surprise, Ves found Lord Javier calmly gulping down a glass of beer.
"Why am I not surprised to find you here?"
"You Brighters could hardly put me into the cockpit of a mech to help defend the ship, right?" Lord Javier smirked and gestured at an empty seat next to him. "Come sit. I could use the company."
Ves sat down but didn't order any drink except tea. The last thing he wanted to do was inebriate himself during a battle. "So. Here we are."
"Here we are." Javier nodded. "Nerve-wracking, isn't it? I felt like this all the time when I was locked aboard the Shield of Hispania while you Vandals picked fights with everyone you encountered in space."
"We didn't fight that many battles in space." Ves chuckled.
"Well, the ship entered into red alert enough times for me to get used to the feeling of knowing nothing while a battle is going outside. You'll get used to it after a few times."
"Still, it's a strange feeling, you know? I used to be one of the people in charge. I was by far the best mech designer among all of the mech designers attached to the of the Flagrant Vandals taking part in that mission. I was their head designer! Now, though, Senator Tovar or whoever else is in charge on the bridge can draw upon the knowledge of a Senior Mech Designer. In comparison, a small fry like has no value."
Lord Javier looked at Ves with a critical eye that belied his tipsy state. "You're kind of a control freak, aren't you? You like being in control. You hate it if you have no way to make your own decisions and you hate it even more if you're completely left out of the loop."
Ves reflected on himself for a bit. "I guess you're right. I think it's because I've experienced too many troubles that happened completely outside of my control. I've always been forced to ride one crashing ship after another. Even if I kind of brought this on myself for accepting Senator Tovar's invitation to be part of his peace delegation, it still frustrates me to no end."
"Why do you think people are so power hungry? News flash Ves, almost every human is a slave to their circumstances. Some don't have any ambitions and are content with their lot. Others are more like you who want to take control over their lives. Well, the hardest thing about taking control is that you won't ever obtain it if you just sit on your butt and go with the flow. Taking control means taking charge. Taking charge means you have to assert yourself."
"I tried that with the guards blocking the way to the bridge. They stuck to their orders."
"That's the Bright Republic for you." Lord Javier said flippantly. "In the Mech Legion, any noble could have passed through that hurdle."
Ves shrugged. "It's probably better this way. Now that I think about it, it's rather inappropriate for me to attempt to barge into the Remembrance's bridge. I'm sure the Spiral Shockers and the professionals employed by Senator Tovar have the situation well in hand."
Suddenly, the Felicitous Remembrance lost power. The entire ship became engulfed in darkness and silence as the lights, the air filtration system, the temperature regulators and everything else abruptly shut down!
Even the artificial gravity stopped working, causing Lord Javier's empty mug of beer to float from his grasp in the dark!
"You were saying?"
Chapter 1021
Quickly after the darkness fell, their underlayer vacsuits automatically enveloped their bodies in a thin fabric substance that protected them against the event of explosive decompression. It even came with a small emergency supply of oxygen, but it wouldn't last that long.
Ves felt he entered a very precarious situation right now!
The guards escorting Lord Javier stopped standing at the sides and approached their charge. Their heavy combat armor lit up the surroundings that had turned completely dark and silent.
"You're coming with us, Javier."
The noble shrugged apologetically to Ves. "I guess my babysitters won't allow us to remain together. Stay safe, Ves. You're okay for a Brighter."
Four guards surrounded the Vesian noble and marched him off to else, leaving Ves alone in the dining room. The magboots built into their combat armor kept them stuck to the deck despite the lack of gravity.
However, they barely reached the exit hatch before a barrage of ballistic projectiles impacted against the heads of the two guards at the front!
The loud impacts and torrent of firepower bounced off their helmets for a second before penetrating and killing the two guards!
"Hostiles!"
The remaining two guards hauled Javier away and aside from the open hatch so they wouldn't remain in the line of fire of whoever was in the corridor.
As soon as the shooting started, Ves cursed and held on to the table. Without any functioning artificial gravity, he would have to be careful with his movements as he risked throwing himself in an uncontrolled tumble in the air if he pushed himself off the deck!
In a condition of zero-g, Newton's laws of motion reigned supreme!
As a mech designer well-versed in mechanics, Ves knew that the last thing he should do was to move as if gravity still exerted a downwards force on him! Even walking was impossible under these circumstances!
"Goddamn cheap vacsuit! Why doesn't it come with antigrav modules or magboots?!"
Ves found it ironic that the Tovars splurged on so many luxuries and premium materials when they commissioned the Felicitous Remembrance, but they completely neglected the need to invest in better vacsuits!
"Even if vacsuits aren't as glamorous as fancy chandeliers and sturdy tables, they could have at least spared some attention to their quality!"
He had the impression that some Tovar family member or even Senator Tovar himself picked and chose the features of the Remembrance from an interactive catalog. Such a method of determining the attributes of a new ship was a popular service at many commercial shipyards, but among the millions of decisions a customer could make, they would only specify a couple of hundred choices before they called it a day!
For some reason, the standard underlayer vacsuits provided to every passenger and crew on the ship were basic quality junk that Ves could find on any cheap cargo hauler.
"Senator Tovar and his ilk probably make use of their own vacuum-sealed outfits." Ves surmised. It would explain the discrepancy. "I have to get a better suit before all the air gets sucked out!"
In the meantime, the two remaining guards huddled behind a counter, which bounced off the powerful ballistic rounds as if they consisted of mech armor!
"At least the cover on this ship is good!"
He quickly noticed a very big problem for the guards as they tried to resist the unknown assailants. The dining room had been built into an expansive space designed to impress the guests. While Ves admitted that it did indeed fulfill that role, it came at the expense of defenses!
The alternate explanation was that the dining room did in fact offer some formidable defensive installations, but the lack of power prevented them from deploying!
"What a stupidly vain design!" He cursed.
In fact, the Felicitous Remembrance shouldn't have lost power so suddenly and so completely. Even if pirates jumped right on top of them, it would have taken them a lot of effort to shut down all the different backups and reserves spread across the ship.
At the very least, the backup power sources should have kicked in by now, providing much-needed air circulation and gravity to the impotent ship!
The sudden attack and swiftness and thoroughness of the Remembrance's power affliction caused Ves to develop an awful suspicion.
The only way the Felicitous Remembrance lost power so suddenly and so completely was if their enemy sabotaged her from the start!
"Who the hell is in a position to sabotage a ship of the Tovar Family?!"
A creeping possibility came up to Ves. Could it be... another member of the Tovar Family? Someone who disagreed with Camden Tovar's intentions for peace?
"Is this what Javier meant that a lot of people would be opposed to stopping the war?"
If this attack involved someone powerful within Senator Tovar's own family, then the threat the Tovar Peace Delegation faced would be absolutely dire! How much information did the insider pass on and how many tricks did they pull off to render the Felicitous Remembrance impotent?
"This is too awful!"
Another question was how could the Remembrance be boarded so quickly and without warning? Could stealth shuttles have snuck up to the ship as soon as the fleet transitioned into this star system? It would be the only explanation that fit concerning the timing of the various attacks and setbacks.
Ves came to the conclusion that whoever they faced, they planned their assault meticulously. What he just witnessed might just be the tip of the iceberg.
Right now, the firefight happening close to the hatch of the dining room progressed rapidly. Unknown figures garbed in what looked like barbaric pirate armor poured into the dining room with military precision and began to fan out around the bar counter where Lord Javier and his two guards huddled behind.
They threw various grenades over the counter, but some laser interception system mounted on the shoulders of the guards zapped them out of the air before they could get anywhere near.
The excellent equipment of the guards allowed them to push the incoming hostiles back, but their situation became increasingly perilous!
Over a dozen assailants entered the room and made use of the tables to shield them against the heavy laser rifles wielded by the guards!
A handful of intruders noticed Ves deeper inside the room. Two of them diverted their attention from the guards and fired their ballistic rifles at what they thought must be a bystander!
"Hey! I'm unarmed! I'm no threat to you guys!" Ves yelped and flipped over the heavy dining table.
The lack of gravity made it a lot easier, but the force he inadvertently exerted also caused him to float from the deck! He fumbled a bit with the table, grabbing on to it and taking advantage of its mass to anchor him somewhat in place.
Ballistic rounds kept impacting against the surface of the table. Ves could practically feel and hear the table heroically withstanding the incoming fire without suffering any substantial damage. The extravagant decision to use compressed alloy to construct the tables at least paid off!
Newton's third law of motion still applied, so all of the kinetic energy transferred by the physical impacts slightly pushed Ves and the table backwards towards the bulkhead.
Even so, the heavy dining table only offered protection in one direction. Its huge flat surface might offer good cover from the front, but the top, sides and rear offered no protection unless Ves oriented the table!
That might work against a single assailant, but the two pirates attacking him split up and began to flank his left and right sides!
Ves would be in imminent danger by then, because even if he shifted the surface of the flipped table towards one attacker, the other enemy could easily shoot him in the back!
"Ah hell, what am I hesitating about?!"
He gave up his hope of a timely rescue. Not a single whiff of reinforcements arrived as of yet and the other ten assailants almost finished cornering the two guards keeping Lord Javier pressed to the deck.
Since no help was on the way, Ves decided to take matters in his own hands.
He stretched out his vacsuit-gloved hand where a resplendent weapon materialized in place. His trusty Amastendira phased out of his invisible and intangible Inventory that the System somehow attached to him and took on a physical form in reality.
As a weapon that saved his life time and time again, Ves always admired this resplendent piece of craftsmanship. Even during his travails aboard the Starlight Megalodon, the Amastendira proved more than equal to many of the wondrous if outdated weapons of the mighty Common Fleet Alliance!
However, the more he made use of the Amastendira, the more he felt regretful at what Melkor once described as a replica.
It didn't even have the full complement of features of the original mastercrafted laser pistol that went missing at some point.
While Ves did not care too much about features as the basic functionality of the Amastendira was already powerful enough, he did care about one particular factor.
A materialized copy did not possess any Spirituality. The System formed his copy of this legendary weapon by building it up from atom to atom, molecule by molecule, thereby achieving a close resemblance of the original.
Yet a copy was still a copy. This lovely custom weapon designed and handcrafted by Pierre Femento, a famed Rubarthan gunsmith from the center of the galaxy, held none of the original craftsman's ascribed emotions.
It lacked even the most rudimentary form of X-Factor that Ves saw in many custom mechs designed by other mech designers.
Therefore, as much as Ves admired his trump card, it didn't change the fact that it was a weapon without life or the capacity to bear life. No matter how much Ves used it, the Amastendira would never be able to receive any effects from his formidable Spirituality.
More than once, Ves considered taking the Amastendira apart and reusing much of its amazing components to build his own personal laser pistol.
Only two reasons held him back from such a bold plan.
First, he lacked the knowledge and expertise to handle much of the Amastendira's advanced components. From its dimensional heatsink to its ultra-advanced energy projection system, Ves simply didn't possess the necessary skills to utilize them properly.
Second, he couldn't guarantee that his rework of the weapon would still retain the Amastendira's remarkable property to dematerialize in his Inventory. Ves had no clue how the Inventory worked in the first place and how it seemed to be present on him despite his separation from the System.
Ves quickly brushed aside his regret for the missed potential of his replica of the original weapon. What he wouldn't give to possess the real deal. The Amastendira in his hand served as a subtle reminder that even the System possessed limits.
"Well, let's take care of trash."
Ves did not feel confident that he could nail a shot on one of the two flanking pirates when he popped out of cover. In fact, he didn't dare stick out his head and arm to aim his weapon! By the time he drew a bead, the pirates would have riddled his flimsy vacsuit helmet with holes!
So he simply opted for the most expedient if wasteful option. He hastily configured the Amastendira in a wide angle scatter firing mode before dialing the power setting above average.
After that, he poked out the lengthy muzzle of the Amastendira over the lip of the flipped table and vaguely aimed it in the direction to the flanking pirate to the left.
As soon as he pulled the trigger, the entire dining room flashed in bright red!
The visor filters of his vacsuit was slow to adjust to the flash. It took a second or so for him to regain his vision.
When Ves carefully poked out his head to the left, he saw that the attacker to the left had been turned into a charred mess!
It appeared that these 'pirates' at least fitted themselves out as pirates, as their heavily-adorned combat armor offered no hindrance at all against any serious firepower.
Ves quickly shot his Amastendira again at the direction of the dead pirate's partner who seemed to be having second thoughts.
After that, he quickly adjusted the settings of the Amastendira and fired it towards the ten other pirates. Cutting them in half at the waist with a powerful continuous cutting beam!
After the bright flashes of light, heat and energy subsided, the entire dining room abruptly fell into silence and darkness.
Chapter 1022
Ves pushed off his table and coasted over in the direction of the battered bar counter where the two elite Spiral Shocker guards and Lord Javier huddled behind.
"Don't shoot! It's me!" He said as he floated to their cover position.
Lord Javier gaped at Ves as soon as he came into sight. His guards probably paused in astonishment as well, though their heavy helmets obscured their expressions.
"Did you do all that?" Javier asked with a tremble in his voice.
"No, a unicorn did it." Ves flippantly said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm unharmed."
"That's good to hear."
"Say, can you give me your weapon? I'm a good shot."
"You'll have to ask the unicorn, not me. I'm unarmed."
Lord Javier threw a skeptical eye at Ves. "Yeah right."
Ves would never admit he fired the powerful lasers despite being more than obvious that he was the one who could have done so. The good thing about the total shutdown was that the Felicitous Remembrance's pervasive monitoring system stopped recording everything that happened inside the ship.
Even if some secret record already stated that he possessed a power laser weapon as his trump card by now, the less details it mentioned, the better.
He already used the Amastendira so often that he no longer feared its exposure. If nothing else, he could always chalk it up to a present from Master Olson or an amazing treasure find from the Frontier.
The best way for Ves to brush aside the speculation on his weapon was to forge onwards and leave what just happened behind. It was a lesson that Lord Javier imparted to him just some time ago when he explained how to deal with public embarrassment.
In other words, just be shameless and boldly change the topic, leaving your questioners no time to go back!
"Those 'pirates' aren't pirates." Ves declared. "They're infiltrators, commandos, whatever. They look like pirates and their gear fits their roles. Yet the training they exhibited and the tactics they used are too sophisticated."
One of the elite security guards snorted. "We're aware. We have fought these sorts of disguised pirates before. They did a good job masking their actual origins. We aren't able to determine if they're Brighters or Vesians."
"They might even be dark mercenaries from the frontier or the Nyxian Gap." Ves idly guessed. "Whatever the case, these pirates came here for a very specific purpose. I think they intended to rescue you, Javier."
The attackers didn't put their full effort into fighting back against the two guards. If they truly wanted to kill the guards, they could have been a lot more aggressive and decisive in their attacks. Yet they took a lot of care in their aim in order to avoid hitting the defenseless hostage.
Another clue that backed up Ves' assertion was that all the grenades they threw turned out to be stun or EMP grenades instead of deadlier variants. He studied their fragments scattered on the deck and knew enough about them to recognize they held no lethal payloads.
The Vesian noble wasn't stupid. Neither were the guards.
The only thing they couldn't figure out if rescuing Lord Javier was a priority or a side goal to the attackers.
"We need to get to safety." Ves said. "What are your protocols?"
"The main security department is close by." One of the guards stated. "We can bunker down there. There is also a small armory further ahead that is much more secure against hostile intruders."
"Our orders in this event are to take the prisoner back to the security department." The other guard stated.
While Ves would have preferred to go to the armory in order to equip himself with a good set of armor or something, he shrugged. "Let me come along."
The two guards didn't refuse. Even if Ves was a mech designer who appeared to be completely unarmed, they didn't forget the powerful laser attacks that wiped out the attackers just a few minutes earlier.
This mech designer deserved his combat awards!
The ribbons adorning his service dress uniform took on an entirely different meaning now to Lord Javier and his guards. The latter especially no longer dared to dismiss Ves' presence.
Before they left the room, the two guards sought out an emergency locker that held various tools, medkits and most importantly a set of hazard suits!
Ves and Lord Javier both adorned the bulky hazard suits which to the former's regret also consisted of a basic model. Its semi-flexible synthetic surface didn't offer that much more protection against enemy fire than a thin vacsuit.
Even so, the added protection against heat, fire, corrosion, radiation and other environmental hazards at least protected them if the Felicitous Remembrance began to fall apart or something.
Wearing this basic hazard suit over his ornamental uniform and basic underlayer vacsuit made Ves miss his old CFA gear. He would have been able to walk up to the supposed pirates and wrestle their own ballistic rifles from their grasp without any hindrance!
His XV-99 Squalon armor would have been able to bounce away all of the rounds and grenades thrown in his direction without suffering a single scratch!
Of course, this was only a dream for now. His current assignment left him with no opportunity to bring his own gear so he had to make do with this basic model hazard suit instead.
"Let's move to the security department."
They hustled out of the dining room, leaving the charred and smoking remains of the so-called pirates behind.
This time, the guards shut off their suit lights and switched to the alternative viewing modes offered by their helmet visors. Although the hazard suits worn by Ves and Lord Javier also came with infrared vision and other vision modes, Ves felt as if he was looking through a thin noisy fog that slightly blurred what he saw.
"Urgh."
As they moved out into the corridors, they walked slowly and with care. The two guards kept their weapons peeled in case any more pirates popped out. All of the sensors built into their combat armor also tried their best to detect any threats, whether visible or invisible.
Much of the ship fell into complete and utter silence. The lack of working systems and the strange absence of much of the crew unnerved Ves.
"Where is everyone?" Javier wondered.
"They're either at their stations or huddling down in cover." Ves explained. He noticed that Lord Javier didn't seem to have much experience with space travel. "Right now, you'd be stupid to run off in the corridors like a headless chicken."
"Even so, shouldn't someone come and fix the broken power?"
"I'm sure that people are on their way to the engineering bay to see what is up. I don't know exactly what's going on either. There should at least be backup power sources that can power individual sections of the ship, but they didn't seem to have kicked in for some reason."
Lord Javier grimaced under his hazard suit. "Senator Tovar should have checked his own ship more thoroughly before he set out."
It was very hard to explain the multiple failings that they witnessed so far. How could the Felicitous Remembrance be so vulnerable to sabotage and attacks? All the money that the Tovars put into her construction seemed to be almost completely useless at this moment as their assailants circumvented most of her defensive measures.
Fortunately, they didn't encounter any assailants on their way to the security department.
The problem was that the security department didn't exist anymore.
Through the broken blast doors, Ves and the others found nothing but dead bodies, broken armor, impact marks, fragments of machines and more, much of which floated in the air due to lack of gravity.
For a moment, the elite guards paused as they struggled to comprehend the mystifying sight before them. The security department should have been able to hold out!
Ves looked down at the ash and debris and pointed his finger at the errant footsteps. "The attackers already left I think."
"What happened here? How could this compartment fall so quickly?" Lord Javier voiced everyone's concerns.
"I think... the security department was attacked from both within and without! Look at how the debris is strewn and what marks the explosions have left behind. I think some of the machinery within this department have been planted with explosive charges beforehand! When the attack on the ship commenced, they simultaneously blew up, taking out any security officer and crew member in the vicinity!"
Even the blast doors failed for some reason, succumbing to plasma charges from all the melted slag left behind.
As Ves read the battle damage, he saw more and more signs of prior sabotage. How could the security department completely fail to detect the dangerous payloads planted right in the center of their own stronghold aboard the Remembrance!
They were either epically incompetent, or all of their scanning gear meant to sniff these kinds of dangers out all held blind spots against those explosive charges!
Whatever the case, the implications were extremely frightening!
"First, half of the interior of this compartment suffered from the effects of the explosions. Shortly after that, hostiles forced their way through the blast doors and swept over the surviving security officers."
The two guards both kept their silence for a long time. Ves guessed that they were probably deliberating among themselves through a private point-to-point comm channel.
"This entire attack is premeditated." Ves stated the obvious after a few minutes of studying the remains. "Maybe months or weeks before the Tovar Peace Delegation set off, Senator Tovar's enemies already tampered with the Felicitous Remembrance as she was being prepared for this journey."
"How come they didn't plant a massive bomb inside the ship and have it take her out in one go?" Lord Javier wondered.
"Maybe our opponents aren't confident that they could hide their sabotage if they sneaked in something big or tampered with something critical that's inspected every few hours. Maybe their true goal isn't to kill us all, but to take some people captive."
They did divert some men to retrieve Lord Javier, having pinned down his location at the dining room. However, only sending a single squad of badly-equipped pirates did not impress Ves very much. Retrieving the Vesian noble probably wasn't the main objective of this attack.
He thought for a moment and tried to figure out who was important enough for their attackers to even bother with boarding the Remembrance.
Even though the peace delegation invited a lot of important people worth many billions of credits by virtue of their identity and capabilities, only one person stood out among everyone else.
His eyes widened as he made a bold guess. "I think the attackers are after Senator Tovar! He's by far the most valuable person aboard this ship!"
The value of this great statesman couldn't be overstated. If someone unscrupulous ever kidnapped the son of one of the great founders of the Bright Republic, they could sell the senator to the Vesia Kingdom in exchange for hundreds of billions of nova sovereigns!
And this monetary sum heavily discounted the actual worth of Senator Tovar!
As a leader of the powerful Tovar Family, a sitting member of the Bright Senate and a former bright president who led the state for a number of years a long time ago, Tovar possessed a wealth of knowledge about the Bright Republic. Letting them fall into the hands of the Vesians would be a disaster of epic proportions!
Perhaps it might even be enough to tip the balance of the war!
Ves cursed. Whatever the origins and motives of their current assailants, he knew that they all held an obligation to prevent Senator Tovar from falling into their hands!
If need be, they should at least ensure the senator died and his brains got completely destroyed in case he fell into enemy hands!
Naturally, nobody even voiced such a possibility. Even if it was for the good of Bright Republic, hardly anyone dared to go through with such an extreme action. They could kiss the Bright Republic goodbye if they ever had the blood of a Tovar on their hands!
Chapter 1023
To their credit, the shocked guards quickly regained their composure. As members of the elite Spiral Shockers, they wouldn't let themselves remain vulnerable and directionless for long.
"We should scavenge for gear and fall back to the armory." One of them stated for the benefit of Ves. The guards no longer disregarded him as a burden now. "Mr. Larkinson, rightly speaking, you should return to your cabin or head to the nearest escape pods. What are your intentions?"
"I can't very well sit out this conflict, right? If you'll have me, I'd like to stick with you." Ves smiled sardonically. If anything happened to Senator Tovar while he was a passenger aboard the ship, all his combat awards wouldn't save him from the Tovar Family's reprisal. "That said, I'd prefer it if I can wear something sturdier than this flimsy hazard suit."
They dug around the floating fragments and ruined bodies and ignored the macabre sight as best they could in their search for intact gear.
A few of the equipment lockers survived the carnage. While they contained miscellaneous gear that Ves lacked the training to use, they did scrounge up a decent suit of light combat armor as well as some generic firearms.
"It's better than nothing." Ves shrugged as he quickly shed his hazard suit in favor of more protection.
"Hey! What about me! Give me one as well! I'm much more useful alive than dead!" Lord Javier demanded.
One of the guards instantly denied the request. "No. You'll be staying right as you are, Lord Javier."
As Lord Javier grumbled about his inadequate protection, Ves activated the systems of his commercial-grade light armor. The SSL insignia on the chest made it clear that the gear was only as good as those used by security companies.
It was better than nothing, and certainly better than a hazard suit.
"Alright, I think I'm good to go." Ves stated once he finished syncing up to the systems of his new weapons and armor with the help of the guards. They possessed the authority to unlock the gear for his use.
After that, they moved out of the wrecked security department and moved towards the armory situated not too far away.
Surprisingly, the armory still stood strong, though the large amount of 'pirates' gathered in front of the heavy blast doors made it clear that it was only a matter of time before it fell.
The same time the foursome discovered the milling pirates, the enemy discovered their presence as well.
The pirates didn't shout or chaotically fired a barrage in their direction. Instead, they detached a squad of men to go after the intruders.
Ves and the other three quickly ran around the corner as fast as they could with their magboots and increased the distance.
"Ves?" Lord Javier spoke up.
"What do you want?"
"This would be a good time to whip up that killer laser weapon of yours!"
"Who do you think I am, a unicorn wrangler?! Shut up and keep moving!"
At this time, Ves did not feel he needed to resort to the Amastendira. The two guards wielded heavier weapons this time.
Even as they turned another corner, they ran a short distance ahead before the two guards halted.
One of them deactivated his magboots and flipped over in the air so that he stood on the ceiling. He then deployed a mobile weapon emplacement on the surface, which automatically folded out into a heavy caliber machine gun wield protective alloy plating partially shielding the front. Small mag modules built at the base of the contraption kept it fixed onto the ceiling.
The sight momentarily confused Ves. It looked extremely strange, but after a moment's thought he saw the cleverness behind the act!
Their pursuers wouldn't expect a weapon emplacement deployed on the ceiling. The guard manning the machine gun had in effect turned his position into a miniature machine gun turret that held a commanding view over the corridor from above.
The other guard positioned himself at a different angle so that they could catch the incoming pirates in a crossfire.
Meanwhile, Ves covered the rear behind another corner and made sure that Lord Javier didn't run off somewhere.
There was a very real possibility that Lord Javier would run off to the attackers on his own accord!
"Can you please not point your rifle at me?" Lord Javier whined. "Do you even know how to shoot a rifle? Your stance is awful and even a raw recruit has better handling than you. Why don't you pass on that rifle to me. I'm a much better shot than you'll ever be in a hundred years."
Ves sneered at Lord Javier. Even though they had become somewhat friendlier over the past week, it didn't change the fact that they belonged to hostile states. Ves would always be a Brighter and Lord Javier never hid the fact that he considered himself to be a bona fide Vesian.
During calmer times, Ves had no qualms against attempting to befriend the noble. Yet now that they came under attack, Lord Javier's status as a prisoner and a hostage reasserted itself. It would be highly irresponsible for Ves to hand over a weapon to the Vesian.
Besides, Ves lacked the authority to unlock weapons for Javier's use. The internal security systems wouldn't allow the weapons to fire in the hands of a stranger.
"They're coming!"
Six of them rounded the corner first, upon which the weapon emplacement on the ceiling immediately rattled out a huge volume of kinetic rounds!
The large torrent of firepower angled downwards on the pirates quickly overwhelmed their substandard combat armor and riddled them with holes!
They didn't even have the time to fire back at the weapon emplacement!
"That's only six of them! There's six more!"
"I think they're falling back!"
The other security guard moved up towards the site where the corpses still stood in a macabre fashion due to their magboots keeping them standing. He held a large electrorod weapon which instantly discharged as soon as he rounded the corner.
The entire corridor became awash with crackling flashes as electric current went wild!
The electrorod weapon quickly fizzled out as it drained its entire battery with a single discharge. Although wasteful, the weapon served its purpose.
"Clear!"
Once the other guard folded the machine gun emplacement back onto the rear of his armor like a bulky backpack module, they all turned around the corner and saw the aftermath of the electrical attack.
"What a way to go." Lord Javier whistled under his hazard suit as he admired the sight of pirates friend in their own armor. "I thought combat armor was insulated against electrical attacks."
"That only works up to an extent." Ves commented. "That electrorod weapon is meant to be fed into a generator or other power source. It's a crew-served weapon that's meant to defend a fixed position. How can it be so weak? It's too bad it ran out of juice so quickly though."
The two guards still had more surprises in store, but they definitely used up their most formidable weapons. That bode ill for their next steps.
"There are at least thirty or so pirates remaining outside the armory." One of the guards said. "In our current condition, we can't rescue the armory without getting overwhelmed. That is..."
The man trailed off, but Ves knew what he insinuated. He was asking if that wondrous laser weapon would make an appearance again.
Ves weight the benefits and drawbacks and made a judgement that it would not help his interests if he kept hiding his capabilities. He should never hold back against a very real threat, even if they seemed to be aiming at Senator Tovar rather than him. If something happened to the great statesman, Ves could say goodbye to the Bright Republic!
"Let me think." He said, stalling for a moment.
Lord Javier snorted. "We're waiting."
"What's it to you? I thought you'd be pleased if we suffered a mishap."
"Not at this time. I think I got our enemies figured out. This doesn't involve any Vesians I think. It's purely an internal conflict between you Brighters. All the sabotage and timing points that out. As for rescue from my state, that's unlikely. Even if my fellow Vesians did come to rescue me, I'm not sure if I'll be any better off in their care."
"How so?" Ves asked.
"These sneaky tactics are more to the Venidse Duchy's liking. They like to conduct commando raids from stealth. I think your Vandals got a taste of that already, right? The Imodris Duchy doesn't believe in sneaky nonsense. In fact, we hate it because Venidse always uses those tactics against our own forces!"
"Does Imodris really don't make use of stealth technology?"
"Oh, they probably do, but this doesn't seem like their style either."
"For what is worth, I concur." Ved nodded.
There was one other possibility, though. Conspirators from both the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom banded together to organize this attack. That would be the worst-case scenario because that implied that warmongers from both states set aside their animosity to hinder Senator Tovar's quest to negotiate an early peace!
That would be absolutely unheard of in normal circumstances, but Ves could very well see that such an unholy alliance might be possible in this case!
The more Ves thought about this awful possibility, the more he felt the urgency to help resolve the crisis aboard this ship. While he could have run for the escape pods and wash his hands off this entire incident, where would that leave him? To abandon the ship at a time where Senator Tovar and most of the other high-ranking members of the peace delegation remained at threat would be a dereliction of his duty.
Ordinarily, the Bright Republic and the Mech Corps might forgive him for running like a frightened kitten if he was just an average cowardly mech designer.
Yet Ves gained a reputation for bravery in the face of danger! His prestigious combat awards demonstrated that he achieved a lot of merit in direct combat situations where his life and the lives of his comrades were at risk!
For someone with all of those awards to turn tail and run would negate everything he achieved and ruin his reputation at a time his career and the LMC could ill afford such a setback.
Who from the Bright Republic would ever continue to purchase mechs from a company led by a despicable hypocritical coward?
Ves experienced the full burden of his accumulated merit and reputation. Previously, he basked in the glory of his accomplishments. He even took advantage of his new status as a war hero among mech designers.
Now, he felt the weight of expectations pushing him into action.
"We should make sure that Senator Tovar remains out of the hands of these pirates." Ves finally declared. "I have a weapon that might be able to take care of a large number of pirates at once."
"You so-called 'unicorn'?" Lord Javier sneered. "About time you admitted it. So what are you going to do with that big gun? Where did you get it anyway?"
"It's an unexpected present." Ves claimed, saying no more and letting their imagination fill up the gaps. "It can fire powerful laser beams, but it doesn't have that much of a capacity. If we want to make the best use of it, I'll have to get into a position to catch the most pirates at once."
This required some planning and preparation since the pirates would ordinarily be able to detect their approach and form a response before Ves was ready to fire his Amastendira.
In no way did Ves ever entertain any notion of handing over the Amastendira to someone else such as the guards who were much better shots. They probably assumed that such a powerful weapon was locked to a single person anyway.
After a brief round of planning, they finally moved into action.
Just as they made it halfway, the ship suddenly rumbled violently.
A big whoosh sounded out while pressure buffeted all of their armored forms. A drastic change had occurred!
"We're in a vacuum now! All the air has gone out! Maybe the ship has been breached!"
Chapter 1024
The decompression of the corridors bode very ill for the Felicitous Remembrance. Either the pirates subverted the system meant to regular the air within the passenger ship, or they blew a big hole in her hull that the automated damage control systems couldn't patch up. Modern starships activated at least five different emergency countermeasures against a hole being punched through their hull, especially ones as well-built as the Remembrance.
"Well, most of those handy features probably failed to kick in considering the complete power blackout." Ves muttered.
If the lack of gravity, oxygen cycling, temperature regulation didn't worry them enough, now they also had to deal with the consequences of moving in vacuum.
Rationing their oxygen became one of their most critical priorities. Their protective suits only possessed a finite oxygen capacity. If their oxygen packs or their suits gained a big enough hole, then they would quickly suffocate and die!
There was a way to change depleted oxygen packs for spare ones stored in various emergency lockers spread all over the interior of the ship. However, that took time and was also rather difficult to do alone.
With the surrounding vacuum no longer able to convey any sounds, they all patched into the same short-range communication channel.
"Will we need to change anything?" Ves asked.
"No. We just need to move into action faster." One of the Spiral Shocker guards stated. "Spacing the interior of the Remembrance suggests that the plans of our foes has progressed to an extent. We must take action to interrupt their next actions."
They hustled back to the armory with haste. Unlike last time, Ves didn't travel together with both guards and Lord Javier. He split off with one of the guards, leaving the other to keep an eye on Lord Javier.
Frankly speaking, bringing Lord Javier was a huge burden. Not only did the guards have to keep him alive, they also couldn't allow him to get out of their sight.
While they could have tied Lord Javier to a solid fixture and lock him in a spare compartment, the risk was too great that the enemy might come and free him without any issue. This very real possibility forced them to keep Lord Javier close, which was very risky in this upcoming battle action.
Garbed in his flimsy hazard suit, Lord Javier made his dissatisfaction abundantly clear.
"This is murder! Why are you bringing me closer to the fight! I'm unarmed and practically unarmored! You Brighters are the worst guards ever!"
He at least had enough sense to keep his grumbling in the private channel. Once they came close enough to the armory, he obediently shut up in order to avoid disturbing the proceedings.
While the guard with the heavy machine gun emplacement set up his contraption close around the corner to the corridor leading to the armory, the other guard forced open a hatch through a mechanical workaround.
Not every hatch could be opened up this way, and generally only unimportant storage lockers and the like could be opened as easily with this method.
Ves and the guard entered into a large and spacious gym compartment. Various exercise equipment lay unpowered and forgotten during this time of crisis.
The large amount of space offered the nearby security officers and other soldiers stationed at the security department and the armory a lot of training space.
Right now, neither Ves nor the guard required all of the space. They simply approached the bulkhead facing the armory and waited.
The guard brandished a grenade launcher while Ves configured his Amastendira in a short-duration cutting beam.
In ordinary cases, a wide angle scatter beam served him better as it would instantly kill or debilitate those he targeted, leaving them no opportunity to retaliate. However, its potency decreased rapidly over a distance and carried no penetration power.
Ves knew that the Amastendira attracted an uncomfortably large amount of attention, especially since he whipped it out of nowhere.
Nonetheless, his actions already earned the respect of the guards. During this time of crisis, the last thing on their mind was to figure out the origins of the weapon. It was much more important to make use of every scrap of power they could muster!
The deck rumbled a little bit.
"That's it!" The guard yelled. "The pirates breached the armory compartment! Attack!"
They fell upon the earlier contingent of pirates so fast that they couldn't have transmitted a warning back to their comrades. Therefore, as Ves fired the Amastendira yet again, they had no idea what they were up against!
The Amastendira only burned for two seconds this time, but at maximum power the powerfully bright laser shone bright golden white as it attempted to pummel through the bulkhead!
Even at full power, the Amastendira barely breached the bulkhead surrounding the gym and training compartment. Due to the low strategic importance of this compartment during a battle, the shipwrights cut some corners regarding the durability of the surrounding bulkheads.
Unfortunately, even when they tried to save costs, the shipwrights didn't dare go too far, thereby giving the Amastendira a lot of difficulty piercing through!
The first beam only managed to burn through halfway. Ves expected this, so he immediately fired the weapon again, trusting its dimensional heatsink to shunt away all of the dangerous build-up of heat into another dimension.
This time, the second beam built up on the progress of the first beam and managed to pierce through!
"Third time!"
Ves rapidly extended the duration of the beam and fired the Amastendira once more, unleashing its power to the group of pirates attempting to push through ruined blast doors of the armory!
Half of their ranks got cut apart or burned in an instant! Even if they wore better quality combat armor, it wouldn't have availed them at all. With the Amastendira at maximum power, let alone infantry, even light mechs would feel threatened!
The remarkably well-trained pirates instantly abandoned their intention to break into the armory. Around half of the survivors rallied around a leader and instantly turned into the direction of the gym compartment.
However, two things happened that forestalled their next response. The thick fat muzzle of a grenade launcher barely squeezed through the narrow gap that Ves burned through the bulkhead. The residual heat already started to affect the integrity of the grenade launcher's barrel, but the guard quickly unloaded a full drum of grenades without worrying about anything else!
The badly-aimed grenades sprayed over a very wide area, some of them landing nowhere close to an enemy.
However, plenty of grenades landed close enough that when they detonated, they severely battered or outright killed the nearby pirates!
Unfortunately, the grenade launcher's drum only held so many grenades, and the Spiral Shocker guards only managed to scavenge a single drum from the security department.
Still, the effect of this attack more than satisfied Ves and the guards.
Before the survivors could get their wits back together, the other guard that set up the machine gun emplacement suddenly reversed the polarity of its mag modules.
This caused it to change the way it interacted with the deck. Instead of sticking to it, it abruptly floated above of it! Although the emplacement was rather heavy, it didn't prevent the guard and his servo-assisted armor from turning around a corner pushing it towards the entrance of the armory.
After that, he switched the polarity back to its original settings, causing it to slam back down to the deck.
The guard laid down behind the emplacement and instantly fired its entire remaining magazine of rounds!
The vast majority of pirates never stood a chance. When they were still focusing their attention towards the entrance of the armory and the newly opened gap from the gym compartment, they were completely exposed to an attack from a third direction!
While some of the pirates reacted quickly enough to fire back at the third assailant, the armor plating surrounding the machine gun emplacement held out long enough to tear down every pirate bar one!
The highest-ranking pirate somehow managed to survive! By dropping to the deck and using the corpses of his subordinates as extra cover, he managed to survive with only scratches to his armor!
It didn't save him from getting disarmed and captured by the remnants of the security officers holing up in the armory. A handful of armored soldiers stormed out of the ruined blast doors and quickly policed the site of the dead and wounded.
A handful of pirates survived alongside the leader. Most received heavy injuries which the security officers temporarily patched up with the supplies from their emergency med kits.
They hardly helped. The injured pirates needed better treatment than that, but none of them could afford to divert to the Remembrance's medical bay.
As the four reunited outside the armory, Lord Javier's guard escorts reported to the exoskeleton-armored security captain that emerged out of the armory compartment.
They reported through a private comm channel, so Ves didn't get to hear what they said. They did gesture towards him a few times, so he had no doubt they reported both his contributions and his possession of an amazingly potent weapon.
"Mr. Larkinson. I see it was wrong for me to dismiss the rumors swirling about the galactic net." The security captain complimented him. "I am Captain Yemona Hoskie of the Spiral Shockers. I'll be taking charge from now on, is that clear?"
Ves did not wish to submit unconditionally to Captain Hoskie, so he did not reply as usual. Following Lord Javier's advice, he gave an indirect response. "I will be glad to assist your endeavors, though mind you, I'm not trained for combat."
"Uh huh. Whatever you say." Hoskie replied skeptically. Her exoskeleton helmet prevented Ves from seeing her face, but he had no doubt that she stared at his empty hands, wondering where he hid his super laser pistol. Seeing that she faced a tough customer, she immediately moved on. "Right now, we need to take back control of the ship, or barring that bring Senator Tovar to safety."
"What about the other VIPs?"
"We'll rescue the likes of Colonel Xelven and Professor Ventag if possible, but Senator Tovar's safety takes priority."
Ves figured that his name was way down in her priority list. He didn't mind it too much though.
"What's your next step?" He asked, deliberating phrasing his question in a way that put a little distance between him and the surviving security officers.
Captain Hoskie stared at the two guards surviving guards out of the four assigned to keep Lord Javier safe. "Damn. We don't have sufficient manpower at our disposal. Half of the armory got blown up and the rest of my subordinates are trapped or stranded at their bunks or at their assigned posts. We can only muster up a single squad."
Ves looked beyond the handful of security guards that had armed themselves to the teeth and saw devastation within the armory. It was a bit better off than the security department, likely due to the increased difficulty of planting explosive charges in this tightly-guarded compartment.
Still, a single guard captain leading a squad of men wouldn't be enough to push back the hundred or more pirates that likely boarded the Felicitous Remembrance!
After weighing her decision, Captain Hoskie decided to forgo heading down the the lower decks to ascertain the state of the engineering bay. Instead, she decided to secure Senator Tovar first.
"We head to the bridge. Right now, it must be under heavy assault by the bulk of the pirates. We can't allow them to gain entry."
"I think that's the best course of action." Ves concurred.
"I wasn't asking you."
Everyone moved out on her orders, though some of them took the time to gear up properly for an assault. Due to the likelihood of follow up attacks on the armory, Captain Hoskie did not feel reassured leaving Lord Javier behind with a single guard. She decided to continue stringing the Vesian noble along regardless of his complaints.
"At least give me something better than a hazard suit!"
Chapter 1025
Captain Yemona Hoskie led her men to the bridge situated at the upper decks. They moved through empty corridors and ignored the handful of bodies and marks of damage. The pirates had swept through the corridors, killing those moving in the open.
Everyone puzzled over the identity of their captives. Earlier, they attempted to interrogate the wounded pirates along with their remarkably well-equipped leader, but they all committed suicide at the same time.
"Suicide implants." Lord Javier huffed over his private comm channel with Ves as he paced alongside his guards. No one else appeared interested in what he had to say, least of all Captain Hoskie. "No ordinary pirates would let someone implant them with those. If that isn't proof that they're not actually pirates, then you might as well cut me in half with that ridiculous laser weapon of yours."
"Do you recognize them perhaps?" Ves asked.
"No. I don't feel they're Vesian. Although they didn't live long enough for me to observe much at all, the pirates have this rough and ruthless quality to them that's far from the attitude ingrained in the Vesian underclasses."
Ves concurred with Javier. "They're far too disciplined and stoic to resemble the pirates from the frontier. There's little chance that they're elites from the Ravienne Alliance, though there's a small possibility that they are dispatched by the Dragon Alliance. It wouldn't make much sense, though. We are quite a distance away from the frontier and as far as I know, the pirates don't have much interest in meddling with our two states."
That only left one probably possibility.
"Dark mercenaries." Lord Javier said.
Killers for hire, the famed dark mercenaries who mainly based themselves in the Nyxian Gap earned their living through dishonorable means. Different from pirates who mainly relied on opportunistic preying of trade ships, dark mercenaries hired themselves out from the deepest depths of the underground.
They didn't work for everyone. Through intermediaries and trusted agents, they matched up with upstanding companies that sought to take care of something violently without the risk of tying the crimes back to their names.
Certain companies paid extremely well for these services. In general, a well-established dark mercenary corps not only lasted longer, they received better and much more regular earnings.
However, it wasn't so easy to establish a dark mercenary corps that companies would be willing to employ. Betrayals happened so often in this murky service industry that reputation and a track record of following through on agreements mattered a lot to both the clients and the service providers.
The high barrier of entry meant that only a relatively small number of long-standing dark mercenary corps ever endured for more than a decade. However, those who managed to survive the initial period would always be able to gain enough reputation to keep the repeat clients coming.
Dark mercenaries earned huge amounts of money. They faced less risks than most pirates but got to earn just as much if not more than even the more successful pirate gangs.
The difference between pirates and dark mercenaries also extended to their training. The latter mostly consisted of military mech pilots or veteran mercenaries with serious behavioral problems or gone afoul with the law.
Unlike the barely trained scum that made up most of the pirate mech pilots, dark mercenaries held themselves to a higher standard.
The discipline and training displayed by the so-called 'pirates' pointed strongly towards dark mercenaries. Still, Ves did not entirely know if they made use of suicide implants wired to a remote signal or some sort of trigger.
"Maybe they're commandos or intelligence operatives." Ves guessed.
Javier shrugged under his hazard suit. "Who knows. There are too many possibilities to guess, but personally I'm leaning towards dark mercenaries."
This speculation didn't help them all that much, but it did give Ves an idea on who they faced. Not everyone made use of well-trained soldiers and stealth shuttles, but some of the better and more renowned dark mercenaries were every bit as good as the commando forces employed by states.
Soon enough, they reached the deck which hosted the bridge compartment. They encountered a pair of pirates stationed at the main stairway, who instantly panicked and tried to run and warn their comrades.
Hoskie's men managed to gun them both down, but they weren't pleased.
"The pirates are probably warned of our presence." The captain predicted. "We've lost the element of surprise."
Even so, they still forged onwards, duty-bound to assist Senator Tovar. As they got nearer to the bridge, they encountered a security checkpoint that had been overwhelmed and taken over by pirates.
Even though the defensive fixtures received a lot of damage, they still offered much more cover than the completely open corridor leading up to the checkpoint.
"This is not advantageous to us." Captain Hoskie observed. "Even with our superior equipment, the pirates stationed twice as many men as ours. With the advantage of cover, they'll hold out long enough that they could easily bleed us dry if they're determined to fight."
Regular pirates folded easily when faced with stiff opposition. Ves did not have any illusion that these fake pirates followed such behavior.
"What do we do?" He asked. There was a reason why Captain Hoskie said those words in the common communication channel instead of keeping her doubts to herself. "Some of those pirates are carrying heavy weapons."
"I heard that you have a very nasty surprise."
In the end, the security checkpoint offered no hindrance to the two consecutive cutting beams that cut apart most of the cover and the pirates hiding behind. The pirates somehow hadn't been in touch with their comrades assaulting the armory, so they did not expect the attack at all. As Captain Hoskie and her men cleaned up the rest, Ves found that discrepancy to be very useful.
"The pirates jammed all long-ranged comms, preventing us from linking up but crippling their own means of contacting each other as well." He observed with a grin. "Usually, that works in their favor, but not this time."
Even so, the jamming prevented the scattered security officers from linking up and coordinating with each other which helped the intruders a lot so far. The defenders of the ship might be elites, but they expected a lot more help from the Remembrance's internal defenses.
If not for the complete loss of power, these pirates wouldn't have stood a chance as the artificial gravity slammed them up and down between the ceiling while turrets deployed from above and from the sides to pepper them with lasers and projectiles.
There was no use crying over the extent of the sabotage. They moved on past the fallen security checkpoint and moved on to the bridge.
Upon their arrival, they saw that they arrived too late. "The pirates forced through the blast doors!"
The bridge of the Remembrance should have been the thickest and most well-armored compartment of the ship. Yet a huge hole rested at the site where Ves attempted to enter only to be denied by the guards.
"How can this be?" Ves wondered. "If there's anything I know about the bridge, it's that those blast doors are much thicker and tougher than the blast doors protecting the armory!"
As the center of the operation of the ship and the principal station for the captain and Senator Tovar, the bridge was exceedingly well-protected. Yet somehow the pirates broke through anyway, and with explosive ordnance far more potent than anything they used before. The site of the ruined blast doors was so ruined that a huge chunk of the ceiling, deck and surrounding bulkheads had been blasted apart as well!
Captain Hoskie hastily led her men into the vulnerable bridge, only to encounter more than thirty bodies.
"All of the dead are bridge officers and security officers!" Ves stated with alarm.
The guards quickly scoured over the bodies, seeing no dead pirates among them. Instead, suspicious piles of ash and melted puddles suggested that the pirates cremated their dead and all of their gear with incendiary charges.
"Senator Tovar isn't among the dead. Neither can we find the bodies Colonel Xelven and Professor Ventag."
The chances were low that the pirates bothered to cremate them. It was much more likely that they'd been kidnapped!
Ves quickly observed something important. "The heat from these marks are still hot. They might not have gotten away from the ship yet! We can still catch up to them and their captives!"
"Let's move!" Hoskie immediately called.
They moved out and through the help of some advanced tracking software that followed residual footsteps taken by the pirates as they made their way out. They hurried down several stairways that led to the middle decks.
No hangar bay resided on the deck the pirates had reached, which meant they were trying to extract through a hole in the hull!
"Hurry up, we're getting close!"
The lack of artificial gravity hindered their movements as they always needed to fully place their magboots against the deck to gain traction. Ves and Lord Javier both moved the slowest by fair, but the exoskeleton soldiers simply picked them up and easily carried them forward.
It was a bit undignified to be carried this way, but it saved them precious seconds.
"We've almost reached the exterior of the Remembrance!"
Soon enough, they rounded another corner and came within sight of a large group of pirates with much better gear. They carried four pods that looked as if they held prisoners to the breached entrance to a large stealth shuttle that had opened its hatch to receive the returning pirates.
"Stop them immediately!" Captain Hoskie ordered and fired her heavy caliber rifle. "Ves, sweep up the pirates in the periphery. In no instance should you fire anywhere close to those pods!"
Ves inwardly grumbled about being ordered around, but he knew better than to make a fuss about it. Right now, rescuing Senator Tovar and the other prisoners took priority! If Ves slipped up his aim and hit one of those pods, he might as well give up his citizenship at the spot!
The heavily-armed exoskeleton soldiers ran to the front, confronting the fifty pirates head-on. The enemy enjoyed a heavy numerical advantage, and unlike the previous pirates they met these ones shed the pretence of dressing up as pirates in favor of better gear!
Even so, no matter how well their combat armor stood up agains the firepower of the Spiral Shocker security guards, when Ves swept up the left and right sides with the high-powered cutting beams from his Amastendira, a multitude of invaders fell or lost composure!
Even as Ves threw the Amastendira back into his Inventory after it entered a forced cooldown cycle, Captain Hoskie's men instantly finished off the remainder with well-aimed shots before they could harm their prisoners!
Unfortunately, one of them managed to unload a volley of rounds right through one of the thinly-armored pods, while another threw a grenade at another pod which heavily damaged its exterior!
"NO!"
Captain Hoskie cursed and ran forward without any regard for her safety. While her men repelled the waiting stealth shuttle and executed the pirates somehow clinging onto their lives, she approached the two damaged pods. Ves and Lord Javier followed suit when it seemed the coast was clear.
She first studied the worst pod that was riddled with holes. Its interior was exposed to vacuum, which quickly distorted the appearance of the dead body inside. She quickly sighed in relief. "It's the captain of the Remembrance."
Although it was callous of her to show relief, everyone was glad the dead body wasn't Camden Tovar.
She then checked the other pod which held another prisoner. The fragmentation grenade that landed on top of it not only dented the pod but breached it in several places.
This time, she looked down in alarm. "It's Senator Tovar!"
As soon as she pried open the damaged cover of the pod, the old man calmly climbed out of the pod. He showed no injury at all despite the fragmentation grenade!
"No need to worry, good captain. My shield generator protected me from harm." The senator calmly stated in his intact high-quality vacsuit and looked around. "My compliments to you, captain."
"Thanks, but we mostly managed to rescue you because of Mr. Larkinson." Captain Hoskie admitted honestly.
That caused the powerful senator to look towards Ves, who was in the middle of prying open the cover to the pod that held Professor Ventag.
Chapter 1026
Senator Tovar didn't linger his gaze towards Ves for long. No matter what happened just before, he could hear it all later. Right now, they still needed to get through this crisis.
Once Captain Hoskie issued some orders to her men, she turned back to the most critical person in their midst. "Senator, the Felicitous Remembrance is highly compromised. The odds are high that the ship will either blow up from within or becomes a target to the enemy mechs outside. Word will come at any time of their failure to capture you. Once they realize it's not feasible to capture you, there is a great chance that they'll settle for killing you and everyone on this ship instead! You need to make a decision. I highly suggest we evacuate the Remembrance."
"I will defer to your judgement." The old man spoke.
The senator's gracefully admitted that he was no good in combat situations. Despite his authority, his expertise laid in statecraft, policy-making and diplomacy. Military matters were far outside his ballpark.
Fortunately, aside from Professor Ventag, they also managed to rescue Lieutenant Colonel Xelven. Although the high-ranking military official served behind a desk for most of his career, he was competent enough to take charge this time.
"I concur with Captain Hoskie." Xelven said as he emerged out of the pod. "The Felicitous Remembrance is rotten from the inside. We should go down to the lower decks and head to the shuttle bay in order to evacuate to the Lormant Carnival as expediently as possible. If the flagship of the escort fleet isn't a convenient destination, then any other light carrier that is escorting the peace delegation will do!"
"Why not take the escape pods? They're much closer." Lord Javier asked.
Xelven ignored the question. Escape pods may offer a faster exit, but they lacked the speed and maneuvering power of a shuttle. They also only held one or two passengers at most and it would be difficult to keep everyone together.
They abandoned the breached site and moved towards the nearest stairway leading downwards.
Ves walked alongside Professor Ventag, who seemed awfully shaken at what happened to them all. The assault on the bridge had been a particularly traumatic experience to him, though Colonel Xelven and Senator Tovar brushed managed to brush it off or hide their discomfort.
The vacsuited professor turned to Ves with admiration. "I've just heard you've been pivotal in rescuing the stranded survivors at the armory and freeing us from captivity. Captain Hoskie reports that you are in a possession of a very powerful weapon."
"I'm the only one who can use it." Ves replied defensively. "Besides, a weapon like that has a cost. It's out of power."
The professor smiled sardonically. "I won't quibble with how you could possibly manage to smuggle such a deadly weapon through all of the security checks. I must admit that I am a little out of my depth here. Your actions so far on the other hand stood out enormously. I regret not letting you into the bridge when you arrived at the entrance earlier. When someone informed me you wished to enter, I declined to consider it as your presence wasn't needed."
The regret in the professor's voice was palpable. If he knew that the Felicitous Remembrance was compromised and that the pirates were so determined to attack the bridge, he would have made a lot of other choices than that!
To Ves, the earlier issue didn't bother him anymore. With the determination shown by the pirates in their successful attempt at breaching the bridge, he might have been one of the bodies there by now.
"Do you know what's going on outside? I'm not patched to any important comm channels or networks. Why hasn't our escort fleet sent any assistance?"
"As far as I am aware of before the pirates overtook the bridge, the pirate vessels that emerged out of FTL entered into fighting range within minutes." The Senior Mech Designer explained. "The carriers disgorged a large number of mechs, outnumbering our forces by at least one-and-a-half times. It is taking every bit of effort for the Spiral Shockers to hold such a large number of mechs back. It doesn't help that the Remembrance has lost all power and propulsion. Her predictable ballistic course through space makes it exceptionally easy for the enemy to concentrate their fire on this ship!"
This added a bit more urgency to their evacuation as those mechs could turn their weapons on the Remembrance at any moment once they gave up on capturing Senator Tovar alive!
"Did you figure anything out from their mechs?" Ves asked.
"I've observed much." Professor Ventag nodded. "The enemy makes use of genuine pirate mechs. Some of them are low-quality products designed by unworthy Novices. However, at least half of them are high-quality mechs designed by an infamous mech designer from the frontier."
"Oh?" Ves looked up. "Which infamous mech designer are you talking about?"
"The main mech models utilized by our attackers are on par with the mech models employed by the Spiral Shockers. I recognize their make. They carry the uncharacteristic pursuit for perfection exhibited by the Skull Architect!"
Ves suddenly stumbled in his steps. He quickly recovered. "What?! Are you certain?"
"Oh yes." Professor Ventag said seriously, not even realizing that Ves once talked to the Skull Architect in person! "He is one of the few Senior Mech Designers that somehow managed to base himself in the frontier. His continued existence is an affront to the MTA."
"I see." Ves said flatly, trying to keep himself calm. "So what does that mean for our defenses?"
The professor chuckled. "The quality of the Skull Architect's mech models are truly praiseworthy. Even if the fabricated copies are a little inconsistent compared to the design specifications, they are all high-performing machines and deadly in the right hands."
This was a familiar-sounding flaw to Ves. After all, he once worked with the Skull Architect's mech designs! "Are the pirate mech pilots good enough to take advantage of the full capabilities of their machines?"
"It is to our luck that the skill requirements are very stringent. While the pirate mech pilots are better than you'd expect from pirates, even the best of them can only utilize eighty percent of the capacity of their quality mechs at most. This skill mismatch is the only reason why the Spiral Shockers have managed to hold back the pirates while outnumbered."
Ves was very glad that he hadn't been able to help the Skull Architect solve this fatal flaw of his! He made a deal with the infamous criminal and fugitive mech designer to design variants that offered a much easier and comfortable piloting experience than the Senior's usual mech designs.
It was a good thing that the deal would only commence after the war!
"Is it safe to cross over to the Lormant Carnival, sir?"
"It depends on how close they've managed to push. I am not up to date with the battle taking place in space, so I'll have to disappoint you there, Mr. Larkison."
The group of surviving security officers and delegation members soon reached the lower decks. They'd be able to reach the entrance to the shuttle bay within a few minutes at this pace.
They encountered little resistance here. The pirates allocated most of their men elsewhere, and many of them had already died. The scattered crew and security officers managed to strike back as well, hindering the pirates from taking complete control.
The shuttle bay hadn't been a priority for the invading pirates. They just stationed enough men to prevent the technicians and other workers from breaking out. Captain Hoskie's men quickly wiped them out and convinced the crew inside to allow them entry.
"Let us evacuate!" Senator Tovar commanded. "My personal shuttle has enough space for most of us. Come!"
The shuttle in question was a souped-up shuttle that looked sleek and elegant. Although it didn't offer too much seating, it offered more than enough space to fit Captain Hoskie's men with a couple more people to spare.
Ves came along as well, though he privately expressed some doubts whether Camden Tovar's personal shuttle had been compromised as well. If the Felicitous Remembrance already contained so many planted explosives, how could the shuttle be any different?
"I make use of my personal shuttle for several years now." The senator explained as as he sat on the most luxurious seat in the passenger compartment. The open space around it became a little crowded with all the extra soldiers trying to squeeze inside. " My personal pilot and shuttle technicians frequently inspect it on the surface and perform a more thorough inspection every week. Their loyalty isn't in question, and even if there is something amiss there, my people always work alongside other technicians when performing their thorough inspections."
Even so, some of the security guards insisted on scanning the shuttle from top to bottom in case they found any explosives.
They already analyzed the composition of the explosives that took out the security department and the armory, so they knew which substances to look out for. As they searched, everyone else waited until they determined that the shuttle likely hadn't been planted with those specific types of explosive charges.
That might not mean much considering there were so many other substances their enemies could have planted on the shuttle. However, it wasn't very easy to obtain them in the first place.
"Exhibiting an obsessive amount of concern is not helpful." Senator Tovar calmly shook his head. "If we are constantly double-checking our actions, we are playing into the hands of our enemies. Trust in my arrangements."
Ves wanted to snort at those words. Everyone trusted that the Felicitous Remembrance that had been personally prepared by the Tovar Family would be safe. She turned out to be the opposite.
Even so, he trusted the other shuttles even less than this one. Even if Senator Tovar made a major miscalculation, Ves did not underestimate him for that. Their enemies may be powerful but Senator Tovar was no vegetable either!
As the shuttle launched into space, Ves managed to look over to Senator Tovar's seat projection. It displayed a plot of the local space. Amidst the symbols representing friendly ships and mechs, a large number of enemy mechs assailed them from all sides!
"The battle is still ongoing!"
Ves tried to count the number of friendly mechs in in space and came up substantially short. The Spiral Shockers brought five companies worth of mechs, but only a hundred-and-forty or less still remained.
The survivors fought as hard as they could, and the enemy suffered a higher rate of attrition than the elite Spiral Shockers.
However, the disparity in numbers made it very difficult for the Spiral Shockers to utilize their advanced tactics. They were also burdened by the need to keep the enemy mechs busy in case they wanted to take a shot at the Felicitous Remembrance!
In fact, many pirate mechs already took potshots at the coasting passenger ship. The only saving grace was that her excellent armor plating allowed her to withstand most of the incoming fire.
Even so, many holes still marred her surface. The artfully-designed passenger ship would quickly reach the point of no return.
Escape pods already started to fire out of various points of the doomed vessel!
Ves found the Felicitous Remembrance's fall to be a tragic event. It was such a waste to trash such an expensive vessel! Anyone who managed to salvage the ship or scavenge the debris would make a killing! They'd earn as much as most mech companies earned in a year!
If Ves still possessed a working comm connection to the galactic net, then he was half-tempted to order the LMC to commence a salvage operation of this site.
Of course, he would never go through with it. A precious battlefield such as this would attract all kinds of scum.
As Senator Tovar's personal shuttle crossed over in open space, it managed to attract the attention of the enemy pirate mechs.
While it wasn't the only shuttle flying through space right now, it differed from the others by its ostentatious design and appearance! Most of all, its exterior also carried Senator Tovar's personal mark!
Alarms began to ring inside the shuttle. "We're being targeted!"
Chapter 1027
Senator Tovar's personal shuttle might look good, but it also came with a raft of defensive features! How could the shuttle of a high dignitary be so simple?
"Deploy anti-targeting countermeasures!"
While the shuttle pilot juked the shuttle in a random pattern, the co-pilot activated a raft of features, the most dramatic of which was to unleash a canister's worth of sensor-blocking particles!
The immediate space around Senator Tovar's personal shuttle became obscured in reflective fog. The tiny particles immediately denied most sensors and targeting systems the ability to peer into the cloud and fixate the shuttle's current position!
Ves knew that the sensor-blocking particle cloud wouldn't shield the shuttle for long. It constantly dispersed and the more it did, the less dense the fog became over time.
However, a minute after its flight, the shuttle released another canister of particles, denying the enemy pirate mechs from targeting the shuttle!
Oh, they tried. However, the Spiral Shockers piloting their disguised commercial mechs did their best to hinder the pirates from taking potshots at the shuttle. The elite mech pilots used teamwork, coordination and timing to hinder the melee pirate mechs from going forward and harassed the ranged pirate mechs with strafing fire in order to interrupt their aim.
The defenders wouldn't be able to defeat the pirates very quickly at all due to the burden of having to shield a shuttle in open space from destruction. However, as long as Senator Tovar and his ride remained intact, they didn't fail their mission!
The pirates were not resigned to being hindered like this, so they kept firing lasers and projectiles into the expanding clouds in the hopes of striking it lucky.
Yet the large clouds quickly spread over kilometers, making it incredibly chancy for them to hit anywhere close to the shuttle. The huge distance between the pirate mechs and the escaping shuttle didn't help much at all! They had a better chance winning the lottery or finding a needle in a haystack than to land a hit on the shuttle in such a huge area of uncertainty!
Even so, Ves and the rest spent a nerve-wracking moment hoping that the shuttle possessed more canisters and if the Spiral Shockers would be able to keep the enemy pirate mechs busy.
"We're running out of canisters!" The co-pilot reported.
"Friendly mechs are on the way!" Colonel Xelven exclaimed as he intermittently exchanged messages with the Lormant Carnival, the flagship of the escort force. "They'll be with us in a moment! For now, hang on as long as you can! The pirate mechs are slowly being pushed back!"
Ves glanced at Senator Tovar's projection and saw that Xelven may be exaggerating a little. The pirates, leveraging their advantage in numbers, concentrated more of their mechs at the flanks, lessening the pressure at the front but forcing the Spiral Shockers to spread their defenses thin. This gave their ranged mechs a lot more opportunities to target the fleeing shuttle!
In the meantime, a huge explosion just wracked the Felicitous Remembrance's engineering bay. Half the ship instantly ruptured from the blast, though her unusually resilient structure left her bow section largely intact.
Even so, the luxurious passenger ship met an ignoble end without even reaching her destination! The unimaginable amount of waste pained Ves deeply, though he felt thankful enough that he made it out in time.
A lot of shuttles and escape pods departed from the starship beforehand, so not as many crew and passengers lost their lives. However, the supplies, gifts, databases and more all got lost, hurting the peace delegation's ability to negotiate with their Vesian counterparts even further.
Though Ves felt very nervous, this wasn't his first rodeo so he maintained his composure. Colonel Xelven and Senator Tovar likewise kept up a steely appearance.
Professor Ventag on the other hand nervously shifted around his seat, aware that his custom vacsuit offered no protection at all should a laser or a huge ballistic round strike right into the shuttle!
His lack of combat experience among the VIPs appeared exceptionally eye-catching. Even though he was a Senior Mech Designer, his actual combat experience was actually close to zero! Even Camden Tovar experienced a few close calls throughout his long life, but Professor Ventag seemed to have too little experience in this regard?
Ves didn't mean to be rude, but the professor's behavior started to discomfort the others. "Didn't you serve during a previous war?"
"I did. But that was two generations ago in another time and place. However, the DCTI ensured I served well away from the frontlines." Ventag plainly admitted his lack of exposure to direct combat. "I apologise for my lack of composure. I am constantly running the numbers on the probability of our shuttle getting hit. I am not getting any encouraging results once it runs out of canisters."
"Sometimes, professor, it's better to leave what might happen in the future up to fate."
"We are mech designers. We do not leave things to chance."
"When it comes to designing mechs or other engineering-related tasks, that's the most appropriate approach. Yet there are so many variables involved in battles that you have to pick and choose where you put your mind into. Calculating the probability of getting hit won't do us any good."
"You may have a point, Mr. Larkinson. I will try my best to keep my mind on more productive trains of thoughts."
Ves found it rather peculiar that while leaders such as Senator Tovar adhered to the Societal Vitality Theory, they never applied its tenets quite completely among themselves.
The lower classes needed to experience struggle. Leaders did their best to bloody them and make them grow stronger through hardship.
Yet the offspring of those highly-placed leaders as well as elite mech designers who graduated from the AUMD or the DCTI all received a free pass by virtue of their higher starting point and the support given by their parents or backers.
Even though Professor Ventag might be a great mech designer, his relative lack of hardening made him an odd choice for Senator Tovar to associate himself with. Then again, leaders mainly applied the Societal Vitality Theory to a society as a whole. They probably figured that exempting their own class wouldn't hurt the state very much.
Maybe Lord Javier had a point. The Bright Republic's hypocrisy made it weaker than the Vesia Kingdom, whose rulers struggled just as much if not more than their commoners. While it might not be the best way for a state to determine their leaders, it at least made sure that those who took charge knew the hardships of battle.
Ves may not enjoy combat but he survived so many battles that it left an indelible mark on his mech design style. He was familiar with its intricacies as well as the features that mech pilots appreciated but never drew much attention.
How could a mech designer even design a good mech if they only witnessed combat from a distance?
This was the supposed rationale for drafting the Bright Republic's mech designers during the wars. Bloody them and reduce their numbers until the survivors shaped up from their experiences.
While Ves did not entirely agree with such a wasteful method of drawing out the potential of an entire generation's worth of mech designers, it did have some good effects.
Yet the nepotism at work in the Bright Republic exempted the most promising, privileged and talented mech designers from this risky process.
Ves shook his head as a new development happened. The shuttle ran out of canisters, but mechs dispatched from the flagship arrived in time to shield it from further damage!
A pair of space knights surrounded the shuttle and held out their shields to absorb any incoming fire targeting the vehicle and the occupants within. Other mechs covered the other angles. Even if they got hit head-on, their armor plating could take it! If need be, they would continue to shield the shuttle until their mechs broke apart!
Because that was their mission! The lives of Senator Tovar, Professor Ventag and Colonel Xelven was worth much more than their mechs!
Through this sacrificial method, the Spiral Shockers managed to shepherd the vulnerable shuttle all the way to the Lormant Carnival, a well-equipped light carrier camouflaged as the flagship of Special Security Limited.
Perhaps they shouldn't have bothered with the pretence and brought their military ships and mechs from the start. Obviously, the Tovar Peace Delegation failed to maintain secrecy.
"We've arrived!" The shuttle pilot announced as the vehicle touched down onto the shuttle bay deck with a hasty clang.
As soon as the hatch slid open, Captain Hoskie led her men outside to secure the immediate surroundings. Another squad of the Spiral Shocker soldiers greeted them with wariness, and it wasn't until Senator Tovar and the others verified their identities that they let down their guard.
"The shuttle bay is too open and vulnerable to attacks!" Colonel Xelven stated as he stepped onto the deck. "Captain Hoskie, bring Senator Tovar to safety! The Lomrant Carnival has a highly-reinforced citadel compartment for just this purpose!"
"Yes, sir!" Captain Hoskie saluted before ordering her men to surround and usher Senator Tovar deeper into the light carrier.
Colonel Xelven then turned to Professor Ventag. "The Spiral Shockers may have need of your insights. Some men will take you to the command center where you can assist in our defense."
The professor nodded without taking up any airs. "Understood. I will put my full effort into helping the Spiral Shockers repel the attackers."
The military official finally turned to Ves and Lord Javier. "Mr. Larkinson, though I would like for you to accompany and assist Professor Ventag, the Spiral Shockers are very particular about who is allowed to enter the Lormant Carnival's command center. I hope you understand."
In other words, the Spiral Shockers didn't trust him enough to allow him inside the heart of their command. Ves did not blame them as unlike the Vandals the Shockers followed protocol a lot more strictly. He wouldn't be able to casually enter into any sensitive areas unless he received the requisite permissions.
In the middle of an ongoing battle, the Shockers had better things to do than to pay attention to a lowly mech designer like him! Even though he proved pivotal in saving Senator Tovar from captivity, word hadn't spread yet either.
Ves did not quibble on this issue. Professor Ventag may be no good in a combat situation, but in the safety of the command center, he should be able to put his mech design abilities to good use.
"Where will you have me, colonel?" He asked, expressing his willingness to help in any way he could.
The man thought for a moment. "For now, please keep an eye on Lord Javier. As we have not prepared any adequate quarters for a man of his station, he'll have to spend some time in the brig."
"Hey! I'm not some lowly criminal or drunkard rating to be put behind bars!" The noble immediately protested.
However, Colonel Xelven took little notice of his protestations. He turned around and left for else, issuing orders as he marched.
Four guards arrived to usher Lord Javier to the brig. Perhaps the only reason why the noble didn't complain about his treatment was because Ves walked alongside him as if he was a fellow prisoner.
"Are you glad you're still with us?" Ves asked idly for lack of a better topic to talk about.
"No."
"No?"
Lord Javier sneered in the open. Now that they have returned to a ship with working power and life support, everyone's helmets folded back into their collars.
"Unlike what you might think, I'm not short-sighted. I believe Senator Tovar is right about the reason why we need to cut our war short. Whoever he's afraid of, they're likely to offer a much better fight for us than your punching bag of a state!"
Ves resisted the urge to smack Lord Javier's face. Who was the punching bag here?!
Chapter 1028
While Lord Javier spent some time locked in an enclosed cell in the brig, Ves sat on a chair placed on the other side of the cell. They kept each other company through a communication channel.
"So is the battle over?" Javier asked with a bored tone as he laid down on his cot.
"From what little I've heard, the pirates retreated on their own accord. After the Felicitous Remembrance blew up and our shuttle made it to safety, the Spiral Shockers are no longer weighed down with the need to protect us so much. They began to take the offensive and employed aggressive formations to turn the tide against the pirates. Even if they are skilled and pilot some good mechs, they're no match against the Spiral Shockers once they unleash their potential."
"The pirates, or rather the dark mercenaries gave up rather easily. It's strange they didn't bring enough forces to overwhelm Senator Tovar's escort force."
"It's not so easy to muster up so many mechs and ships on short notice." Ves spoke, using his experience in logistics to make this judgement. "This attack is well-planned but the uncertaining timing and route must have imposed limitations on the conspirators. Also, it's very precarious for forces to adopt the identity of pirates in civilized space. The larger the pirate force, the more attention it attracts from the surrounding states. In the worst case, the MTA's Compliance Department might send out one of their dreaded fleets! Our attackers won't be returning anytime soon, I think."
They both knew that their attackers were anything but 'pirates'. Even so, trying to figure out their true identities was impossible with the amount of effort they put into their ruse.
Ves felt as if everyone played by a common set rules again. Previously, the players involved in the competition to unearth the treasures of the Starlight Megalodon all maintained a code of silence. Even if word of such an event did spill out on the galactic net, the complete lack of media attention meant that nobody actually found out about the truth!
Right now, something similar seemed to take place. Senator Tovar and the Spiral Shockers did their best to hide their actual identities and allegiances while their attackers adopted a disguise as well!
They took their roles so seriously that they even downgraded the quality of their gear and assets to match what security forces and pirates usually made use of! Such a willingness to weaken their own forces in order to sell the idea that they were someone else went too far!
These strange rituals made Ves suspect that the powers-that-be who ruled the Komodo Star Sector all adhered to a secret set of rules. It might be some exclusive assembly, a secret society, an informal gathering or even just a communal comm channel group where leaders could exchange ideas more openly than in a formal setting.
Ves still had much to learn about the galaxy, it seemed.
"You said earlier to me that you believe in Senator Tovar's warning." He spoke. "How come you're so..."
Sane? Rational? Not crazy? It would be insulting for him to voice those words out loud, but Lord Javier read the unspoken meaning regardless. He smiled sardonically at the ceiling.
"The war between our two states has gone too stale. It's a ritual more than anything by this point. A bloody one, but a predictable one. Nothing truly new happens anymore. We know each other so well that neither side can do anything to gain a decisive advantage in our wars. Don't you think that somewhat defeats the point of a war?"
"They say that war is the continuation of politics by other means."
"You're right, Ves. For so long, our two states used the Bright-Vesia Wars as a way to hone their state and population into a more efficient fighting machine. The mutual competition did us both good, but let's face it. We've reached a plateau where we aren't able to gain any further improvement. The only point to the war by now is to maintain the edge we've sharpened. It doesn't even feel like we're fighting all that hard against you Brighters to be honest. What's the point of sharpening a weapon when you never put it to its intended use?"
Ves was familiar with Lord Javier's perspective on the Bright Republic at this point. He regarded the Republic as a punching bag and a sharpening stone for the Kingdom.
While Ves did not like how Lord Javier dismissed the Bright Republic so casually, he could excuse it since the Vesians always held the upper hand in military strength.
"So what are you thinking about? Would you rather see the Vesia Kingdom invade another state instead?"
Lord Javier grinned. "Wouldn't that be a great sight? Most of the states that surround our two states haven't fought so frigidly and frequently as us. Since we aren't making any progress against each other, why not turn attention elsewhere?"
"That sounds quite logical, though I don't think there's any appetite in the Bright Republic to conquer another state."
"You'll have to. If we Vesians expand our territory, manpower, industry and prestige by conquering our neighboring states, we'll return to our original foes at some point and hit twice as hard. You Brighters may sometimes profess peace and prosperity, but the likes of Senator Tovar won't allow your Republic to become a fish for the chopping block to us. My sovvies are on the Coman Federation. Those transhuman freaks don't have any friends and allies so there's little chance you'll draw more enemies once you turn on their augmented butts."
"It's not that simple." Ves retorted. The Bright Republic dreamt of expanding their territory in other directions many times if they somehow didn't have to worry about the Vesians. "The Coman Federation is no slouch when it comes to their military. Anyone who conquers their star systems will have to deal with a bunch of fanatics who are impossible to pacify unless you take extreme measures that the MTA will surely disapprove of. They're more trouble than they're worth."
A lull in the conversation followed. After some time, Lord Javier asked another question.
"Do you think we'll ever see a time where Brighters and Vesians fight alongside each other against a common foe?"
"It will have to be a very serious threat for us to band together. Anything short of an apocalyptic threat to our states won't be enough to force our people to set aside the hatred and animosity built up over centuries of intermittent war."
"Why not? We managed to become friends, right, Ves?"
Ves snorted. "I wouldn't exactly call us friends. We're just familiar with each other that we no longer repel each other."
"By my definition, that's friendship in a nutshell."
During their time together, they did grow closer despite their differences. Ves did not know whether this was a blessing or a curse. He also didn't think he could repeat this feat when he came in touch with the other members of the Vesian peace delegation.
Would the peace talks still go through now that they suffered such a heavy attack? Ves doubted it, but they already came so close to the Reinald Republic that it would be a waste to turn away at this point.
After some time, Ves and Lord Javier experienced the disorienting and nauseating feeling of transitioning into FTL.
"Seems like we've finally left the battle site." Ves commented. "We're safe now for the moment."
Shortly afterwards, a security officer walked up to Ves. "Mr. Larkinson, Senator Tovar would like to see you now."
"Very well. Lead the way." Ves stood up and waved Lord Javier goodbye, not that he could see it from his enclosed cell.
Ves followed the guard out of the brig and to the upper decks where a stateroom had been set aside for Senator Tovar. The guards there forced him to relinquish the light combat armor and most of his other gear before he entered.
The latest abode for the senator lacked the luxuries and artwork from his previous stateroom on the Felicitous Remembrance. Even so, the Tovar patriarch made the best of the situation and already reconfigured the projectors into displaying some flowing art.
The senator caught his glances. "Do you appreciate my taste of art?"
To be honest, Ves did not see the merit in the artwork on display. The visual art looked pretty in the way the gradients of colors formed into various patterns on a canvas. Yet Ves also felt that for all of their soothing visual flair, they carried no greater meaning.
"They are very aesthetically pleasing, senator." Ves replied simply, opting for a neutral answer.
"Your record states that your mother was an artist. A mech designer is an artist as well as an engineer, no? Your best mechs certainly showcase your artistic prowess. By the way, the record on your mother is remarkably slim and lacking in detail. My investigators have also found some discrepancies in her record. Minor ones, but improper nonetheless. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, Ves?"
Ves suddenly shook. He had some guesses. Dangerous guesses. "My mother.. I hardly knew her. She left me far too soon."
He hoped to forestall any further questioning with this emotional response. It was a fact that she died. That hadn't been faked, and Senator Tovar should know it as well.
"My apologies for prying into old wounds." Tovar said in a seemingly contrite manner. "Let's move on. I won't bore you with a debriefing. I have heard quite enough from Captain Hoskie and Lord Javier's surviving guards. It seems that you are in the possession of a very dangerous tool. Did you know that the scanners and sensors in this stateroom has been scouring your entire body from top to bottom for any items? According to the results, aside from your uniform and your comm, you carry nothing else, but we both know that's not true. Even now, you are capable of killing me if you so wish."
Ves doubted it. Senator Tovar definitely possessed a shield generator, and who knew what other toys he relied on to stay alive. This great statesman didn't live to almost three-hundred years old without learning how to survive a couple of thousand assassination attempts!
Right now, Senator Tovar adopted a light and casual tone. Ves took that to mean that he wasn't hungering for the Amastendira for the moment.
It wouldn't end well for Tovar if he insisted on Ves to give up his prized weapon. The Amastendira saved his life over and over again and he developed a strong degree of possessiveness towards it. In some matters, Ves could be quite irrational!
Fortunately, Senator Tovar himself would not be unaware of this, having manipulated people all his life. Besides, as a man near the height of his power in his own state, he did not lack for toys.
"Everyone needs a way to bail themselves out." Ves replied simply, having become adept at answering nosy questions with a vague and indirect response. "It's good to be taken care of by others, but in my time in the frontier I've learned that sometimes you need to take matters in your own hands."
Camden Tovar smiled in a patronizing manner. "What a youthful expression. That isn't the first time I heard such a remark. Very well. Let's leave aside the many swirling around you. Despite your.. complications, I am not blind to your service to the Republic and myself. I will make sure you are adequately remunerated once we return to the Bright Republic. For now, we need to deal with what is immediately ahead of us. If we experience no further attacks, we will reach the Harkensen System within a week. You've visited this star system some time ago, correct? Please give me your impressions."
Ves was glad that Tovar changed the topic. Even though he doubted if his impressions of the Harkensen System would be of use, he did what he was asked to do and began to ramble about his experiences in the Harkensen System.
He had the feeling that Senator Tovar specifically scheduled some time to indulge him. Ves didn't know whether that was good or bad for him, especially since he likely made enemies with some of his own family members!
Chapter 1029
The loss of the Felicitous Remembrance severely damaged Senator Tovar's prestige. The 'pirate' attack also unleashed a wave of suspicion and everyone came under greater scrutiny. Even the Spiral Shockers dared not to exempt themselves for suspicion!
Morale on the Lormant Carnival dipped quite a bit after the battle. While the Spiral Shockers gave a good account for themselves, their failure to uncover all the sabotage planted throughout the luxurious ship as well as their near-failure to rescue Senator Tovar from being taken away in a stealth shuttle severely damaged their self-esteem.
The Spiral Shockers didn't spend their time wallowing in their pity, though. They took their failures to heart and strove to increase their training and inspections to prevent a repeat of the attack.
Not that Ves thought such a blatant incident likely. The Reinald Republic's Honored Ones responded really poorly at pirate attacks happening in their own territory. Anyone wanting to make a move on the Tovar Peace Delegation needed to use other means than siccing 'pirates' on them now that they entered the borders of this murky state.
Back when Ves described the Reinald Republic to Senator Tovar, he did not cast them in a good light. They were so money-mad that they let certain sectors become rife with corruption. The Honored Ones were also largely untested in an actual conflict, having spent most of their existence in peacekeeping efforts instead.
Even so, the recent large-scale attack on Harkensen I certainly woke them up. The earlier fiascos that took place on that resort planet shouldn't be happening again unless the Reinaldans were complete fools.
"Setting the site of the peace talks in the Harkensen System is a stupid decision."
Certainly, more was at play to hold the talks in the Reinald Republic, but Ves really didn't trust them to be competent in protecting them against sneak attacks.
He felt that this earlier incident would not be the end of the attacks on the peace delegation. Too many people from the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom wanted the war to continue. Other states including the Reinald Republic might also be glad to see the two at odds for a time.
However, Ves also felt that the upcoming negotiation might involve more than just a cessation of the war. Senator Tovar put a lot of effort into this plan and he did not shy away despite barely avoiding captivity.
During the remainder of the journey to the Harkensen System, Ves did not quite fit in with the crew. As a member of the peace delegation, the Spiral Shockers did not allow him to assume any duties, let alone giving him access to their mechs. Even if some of them heard of his surprising performance that proved pivotal in saving Senator Tovar's hide, they were unlike the Vandals in that they did not bend the rules just because they appreciated some of his exploits.
While Ves admired the Spiral Shockers for their confidence, skill, discipline and dedication to their duty, he also felt that they lacked something essential.
He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but somehow he liked the Swordmaidens and the Vandals over the Shockers despite the latter's obvious superior combat strength.
The answer came to him suddenly. "The other two both fight for something. The Swordmaidens value their sisterhood and their dream to elevate the status of women in the frontier. The Vandals fight for their comrades who have been forgotten by most of the Mech Corps."
As for the Spiral Shockers? What little he experienced so far showed him that they'd been trained to serve the Republic to a fault. They were also loyal to their fellow comrades, but there wasn't any special quality there. The ideals and beliefs of the Spiral Shockers seem remarkable bland and tame to Ves. It was as if they were all fighting for an abstract ideal instead of something more grounded and closer to their hearts.
"They're tools. Assets to be used at will."
Every mech regiment and outfit served a purpose. Anyone who bothered to invest in building them up always expected a return on their investment. However, that didn't necessarily mean that those who became part of these forces ignored their own pursuits.
Even though the Swordmaidens and Vandals suffered the fate of tools being put to heavy use, Ves admired their martial tradition. Their values, beliefs, cultures and customs all colored the way they fought and the way they organized themselves.
"They have personality. They have character. They developed their own distinct identities."
As for the Spiral Shockers, its proximity to the headquarters of the Mech Corps put it in extremely tight control. Headquarters determined almost every aspect about the elite mech regiment, optimizing them for great performance yet stifling any attempts at developing their own idiosyncrasies.
It was like designing an artificial baby. You got exactly what you wanted, but nothing more.
However, could truly great mech regiments be manufactured artificially?
"Their huge blunder from before proves that they have major blindspots in their routines."
Everything they did was by the book. This wasn't a problem because the existing book already covered a very wide range of decisions. However, this also made their behavior painfully transparent and predictable to people with access to the very same book.
The conspirators on the side of the Bright Republic must have taken advantage of this vulnerability in order to blindside the Spiral Shockers!
Neither the Swordmaidens or Vandals could have done any better in the same place, but it was the thought that counted. Even if Ves observed some deficiencies, the Spiral Shockers could still kick the former two's butts.
"Sometimes, a mech regiment only has to fight well."
Regardless, the contrast gave him a lot of food for thought. It made him reflect back to his Avatars of Myth which shaped up into a cohesive force under Melkor's direction. How would he shape their martial tradition? What values would he attempt to instill in the mech pilots who signed a contract to serve Ves for a number of years?
Every choice led to different outcomes and came with different implications. Creating a mech force was akin to designing a mech. While humans couldn't entirely be controlled like the components of a mech, they could still be shaped and directed in a way that fell in line to a greater design.
Same with a mech, a mech force could also possess a personality if their designer willed it so. In fact, it was much easier to do so with the latter. Therefore, Ves thought it was a missed opportunity for the Spiral Shockers to developed their own distinct character.
It was like the Mech Corps wanted to train an elite mech regiment while stamping out any uncontrollable factors. To Ves, it was as if the military killed the spark of life of the mech regiment before it could mature into a living identity.
He pushed aside his thoughts on this issue when he met with Lord Javier in the Carnival's much less luxurious lounge.
The Vesian noble only spent a day in the brig before the crew of the Carnival prepared his accommodations. Ever since then, he was allowed to go out for a walk, though he could hardly go anywhere. Lord Javier was still a Vesian, after all.
"I miss the Felicitous Remembrance." Lord Javier sighed as he reminisced about his time on that comfortable ship. "I felt like traveling on a cruise ship. Senator Tovar sure knew how to enjoy himself. The Lormant Carnival on the other hand is a huge bore. There's hardly anything to do around here for me without drawing a thousand stares from the Shockers."
"Please excuse the Shockers. They are having a hard time trying to protect Senator Tovar and us now that they know that someone is definitely gunning for us. Their time is better spent on evading the next traps than accommodating their guests."
"I know, I know. I'm just venting right now. What we experienced a few days ago made me think."
"About what?"
"The war, and our animosity towards each other."
"Did you develop any new insights, Javier?"
"Yeah. The war has warped both of our societies to such an extent that we turned into morons."
That was a very extreme expression! Even Lord Javier should have known better to utter such a blanket insult!
"Why would you say something like that?" Ves frowned, puzzled over the Vesian's uncharacteristic bout of introspection.
"Well, it's not like I have anything else to do aside from thinking, right?" Lord Javier smiled with a helpless expression. "So I was thinking about the depths we have to go through just to attend the blasted peace talks. Have you ever heard of anything as ridiculous as trying to evade your own people in order to do something sane?"
"I think something like that happens every day in the galaxy."
"Urhg. You get my point, right, Ves?"
"Oh, I understand your meaning, alright. I've long held the opinion that the wars between our states are pointless. What you taught me may have caused me to revise my opinion a little, but I still think we'd be better off if we aren't stuck in this eternal vendetta."
Lord Javier's eyes lit up. "So you understand! Frankly, it's all well and good to beat you Brighters up every generation, but the way both of our people have such a one-track mind about the war is dumb. Our states became so obsessed in waging this damn war that we've forgotten all about the threat from other states and alien races. Even if the sandmen have all gone mad and crossed over the border en masse, I think at least half of all the Vesians in my state would still insist on crushing the Brighters first before turning their attention to the sandmen."
That was a very bleak remark, but what Ves witnessed so far, that might be exactly what the conspirators against the peace talks were doing right now! "Although I can't speak for the Bright Republic, for what it's worth I agree with you. There are good reasons for us Brighters to hate you Vesians and vica versa, but is this the defining trait of our states? Our hatred against each other?"
The Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom often got referred to each other in pairs in the rest of the Komodo Star Sector.
The squabbling siblings fighting over the possession of the toy that was the Bentheim System.
The married couple that should have learned to live in peace but would rather fight every night.
How many ways had the Komodo Star Sector described their perplexingly persistent conflict?
It was as if the Bright Republic began to bleed their society of all of their states in order to fuel their burning hatred against the Vesia Kingdom. The same could be said for the Vesians as well as their nobles used the war as a perpetual pretext to fire up their commoners and use up their lives for political gains in their courts.
Still, Ves found it rather surprising that Lord Javier of all people would make such an insightful if highly controversial remark.
"You know, we'd be unstoppable in the surrounding region if we ever allied with each other. It would be even better if he came together in a union like the Friday Coalition!"
Ves snorted at such a fanciful notion. "That would never happen and you know it. Although it sounds intriguing, people have long memories and it will take at least a couple of generations to wash away the memories."
"So it's still possible. It will just have to take a while."
They kept up this outlandish talk for a while at the lounge. It wasn't until Ves received an alert from his comm that he interrupted his conversation.
"What's this?"
Ves activated his comm and read the message.
"Who's calling, Ves?"
"I've been summoned by Professor Ventag."
Ever since they survived the attack on the Felicitous Remembrance, the Senator holed up deep inside the Lormant Carnival and and never came out. Ves had no clue what he was working on or if he was merely trying to bury his earlier shameless appearance.
Still, Professor Ventag was not a person who would waste his time on frivolous pleasantries. Whatever this meeting was about should be important.
Chapter 1030
Ves strolled down the corridors and rode the elevators to the lower decks of the Lormant Carnival. Having taken passage on many different ships in the past few years, he evaluated the commercial light carrier against the other ships.
"The Lormant Carnival is a decent light carrier."
Decent. Not exceptional nor terrible. All Ves could really say about the Carnival was that she served her intended role and nothing more.
The Carnival featured a standard capacity of forty mechs, a full mech company, and offered some room for additional cargo and spare mechs.
However, compared to a combat carrier like the Shield of Hispania or the monstrous Princely Jackal of the Flagrant Vandals, the Carnival lacked the armor and durability of those military carriers.
Armoring starships could get incredibly expensive. Their huge volume and surface area meant that a ten percent increase in size could practically double the final cost of building such a vessel because of the additional armor plating needed to provide good coverage!
Military mech regiments used combat carriers for a good reason despite their higher expense. They simply lasted longer in combat. In larger battles, the chances of carriers getting targeted increased as a large number of enemy ranged mechs might decide to pummel on a ship at long range if they could get away with it. A hundred or more laser rifleman mechs targeting any single ship in unison could quickly deal billions of credits worth of damage!
This especially happened a lot in space battles where ships couldn't hide behind a convenient mountain or terrain feature.
Combat carriers stacked large amounts of relatively cheap armor plating. While ship armor was actually worse than mech armor when compared by volume or mass, a ship possessed much more powerful propulsion so could bear being burdened by lots of cost-efficient bulk armor plating.
This allowed them to perform their core functions. In space, they offered valuable shelter and cover for their vulnerable mechs and logistics ships. On land, they possessed the confidence to make landfall while withstanding a decent amount of anti-air fire.
Light carriers lacked those two vital capabilities. Instead of acting like a movable miniature fortress on the battlefield, they were more like sturdy houses that nonetheless needed the protection of their mechs.
Ves noted that this vulnerability annoyed the Spiral Shockers. They weren't too used to missions that tasked them with taking on another identity. The downgrades to the mechs and ships at their disposal rendered half of their advanced tactics and formations useless because their assets would fall apart or get shot to pieces before they finished their maneuvers.
"The strength that mech pilots can bring to bear is limited by their gear."
Ves found it to be a substantial waste of potential. The Spiral Shockers could do better, yet their budget and mid-range mechs only allowed them to go so far. The few premium mechs piloted by their mech officers only offered a minimal amount of respite from these limitations.
Even so, the skilled mech pilots of the Spiral Shockers still performed leagues above the Flagrant Vandals if they both piloted the same mechs. No matter how many hindrances the Shockers endured, they could still rely on their excellent combat strength to pull them through to an extent.
Pairing the elite Spiral Shockers with mediocre mechs therefore still paid off, though it was very wasteful and not very cost-effective.
"Wasteful spending is par for the course for Senator Tovar."
That old man had way too much money to spend. Ves could have come up with a thousand better ideas on how to allocate the budget for this peace delegation. A huge amount of money had already been sunk due to the premature fall of the Felicitous Remembrance.
Ves estimated that this single luxury passenger ship cost as much if not more than a perfectly serviceable combat carrier!
After a while, he finally reached a small mech workshop where Professor Ventag requested to meet with him. Ves quickly became impressed with the mech technicians at work. Even with the substandard facilities of a light carriers, the mech technicians of the Spiral Shockers all performed their duties diligently.
The prior battle where the Spiral Shockers repelled a pirate ambush did not lead to many wrecked mechs. However, the Shockers still suffered from a large spread of moderate damage. All of those heavily-chipped and damaged armor plating needed to be replaced if the Shockers did not wish to look pathetic upon their entry into the Harkensen System.
And yes, that was the main reason why the mech technicians worked so hard and hurriedly. Apparently, Senator Tovar passed on the orders personally!
Ves just wanted to shake his head at this sight.
"Mr. Larkinson." A ship rating greeted him with respect. "The professor is awaiting your presence in the office. Please come this way, sir."
"Very well, lead the way."
They passed by the mech technicians who mostly ignored Ves even if they heard he did something amazing a few days ago. The Shockers possessed their own pride and wouldn't easily show their admiration to someone else, unlike the Vandals.
"Come in, Ves." Professor Ventag said in a warmer tone. Ves entered an office configured into a small design studio. The professor sat in the center of a small bank of terminals.
"Why have you called me here, professor?" Ves asked boldly.
"I have been thinking about how to reward you for your aid. Strictly speaking, Senator Tovar must have already arranged a suitable bonus for you once the peace talks are over and return home. However, that only covers his gratitude, not mine. I wanted to show my appreciation to you for saving me from captivity. You may not be fully aware of this, but there are many uses for Senior Mech Designers as long as you can get one under your thumb. If I am fortunate, I would be able to buy my freedom with an enormous sum of money. If I am less fortunate, I'd be treated as a slave for the rest of my life."
Ves already witnessed a taste for that in the frontier. Even Lydia's Swordmaidens relied on slaves to fulfill their shortage in technical personnel!
An enslaved mech technician already held a decent amount of value, but an enslaved mech designer, especially a high-ranked one, was easily worth hundreds of billions of credits if not more!
"I was merely doing my duty." Ves replied modestly, unsure whether he even wanted to accept Professor Ventag's gratitude. "No matter my current role in the peace delegation, I am still a serving mech designer of the Mech Corps."
"You don't have to be so modest, young man. You possess a lot of depth, far more than any normal mech designer ought to have. Yet both Senator Tovar and I have only received pleasant surprises from you for that reason. I took the liberty of asking the senator to access your complete classified record. When I read the accounts of your mission to the frontier, I admit my opinion of you has completely changed! You are even more exceptional than I thought! You deserve every medal awarded to you by the Mech Corps!"
While Ves felt the urge to pat himself on the chest, he restrained the urge to boast about himself. Even though he felt fantastic for being praised by Professor Ventag, his general experience at being praised by senior figures was that they usually wanted something else from him. Showering him with compliments only served as a prelude for a request or a demand.
"Tell me, did you really enjoy the CFA's renowned gene optimization treatments?" Ventag asked with hungry eyes.
"Yes."
"How extremely fortunate of you! This is much better than the life-prolonging treatment I've secured after decades of hard work!"
Did Professor Ventag become a fan of him now? Ves did not feel comfortable that Tovar just gave another mech designer access to everything the Bright Republic knew about him. Shouldn't there be laws against disseminating private and classified information?
Heh. Senator Tovar either drafted the laws or executed them. How could they ever restrain someone who partially ruled the Bright Republic?
Perhaps aware that he was acting inappropriately, the professor quickly regained his calm. "Ahem, let us get back to the topic I wish to address. I studied your record and your exploits because I wished to grant you a reward that is in my power to give you. We are both mech designers. We are both businessmen. Having studied your business exploits, I've learned you are doing quite well for an independent entrepreneur. However, I have noticed that you have not been involved in any collaborative projects as of yet. Would you be interested in starting one with my company?"
"Pardon?"
"A joint design project between you and me, or the LMC and NORA Consolidated if you wish to be precise." Professor Ventag described with a benevolent smile. "When I studied your circumstances, I made two important observations. First, you appear to be very close to advancing to Journeyman. However, you are stalled at the threshold for the moment because you have very few opportunities to practice your craft during the war. I want to express my gratitude to you by helping you advance. While there are no guarantees that you will be able to advance after completing a joint project, it will at least offer some very valuable design experience that will be fruitful for your career."
"That.. that's very generous of you, sir." Ves said lamely, not having gone over his shock as of yet. This was an amazing chance!
Many mech designers fantasized about working together with Seniors, but usually they were so busy and had their noses stuck so high up in the air that they didn't even acknowledge the existence of Apprentices!
"The joint project I have in mind will take the form of a mech designed for the market." The professor continued. "That is what you have the most experience in and where you ought to spend your attention on. This will by necessity involve both our mech companies. My company, NORA Consolidated, possesses a very strong brand presence in the Bright Republic and is prominent in several other markets in the rest of the Komodo Star Sector. If it becomes known that our two companies have jointly developed a new mech, the brand and reputation of your LMC will be able to ride on the coattails of NORA Consolidated. While your company may incur some negative repercussions with this association, in general I believe the positives far outweigh the negatives."
Ves nodded in agreement. "I believe so as well."
Simply put, NORA Consolidated was a household name in the Bright Republic. It was one of the premier mech companies in the state simply due to the fact that a renowned Senior led the company! The company's decades-long history and its relentless growth in market share and brand recognition made it into one of the biggest names in the mech industry!
Despite the recent publicity, the LMC always remained somewhat obscure. It simply hadn't existed long enough to be on top of people's minds whenever they recalled a list of mech companies. It didn't help that it only offered two product lines in its mech catalog.
Therefore, connecting the LMC and NORA through a single collaborative project came with major implications! The simple fact that NORA was willing to collaborate with the LMC on a design project showcased Ventag and his company's confidence in Ves and the LMC.
Such an important boost was already incredibly useful!
However, the flipside to this association was that the LMC also drew the attention of NORA's rivals and enemies. In this case, most of those rivals consisted Ansel-aligned companies.
Ves sobered up a little once he made that realization. The Ansel University of Mech Design wielded a huge amount of influence in Bentheim's mech industry. No mech designer would enjoy entering into their crosshairs!
Even if he subsequently enjoyed the backing of the rivalling Dorum Center of Technology and Innovation, was that worth giving up his neutrality in their dominance games?
This seemingly generous offer by Professor Ventag to give Ves a hand in helping him on his way to advance to Journeyman and give the LMC a reputational boost was not a purely altruistic offer. It was actually a ploy to draw him closer to Professor Ventag and the DCTI's camp!
Even when Professor Ventag wanted to be generous, he couldn't help but weave his own political ambitions in his offered reward!
Professor Ventag patiently waited for Ves to make up his mind. "Well, Ves? What is your response? Are you willing to work together to design a great mech with my help? As this project is meant to assist your development, I'll let you be the lead designer and be the final arbiter of what should be included in our collaborative design. I'll even allow you full access to NORA's extensive library of component licenses."
What an incredibly tempting offer! Ves struggled intensively within his mind. Should he accept or not?
Chapter 1031
At first, Ves felt ecstatic about Professor Ventag's offer. Which young mech designer didn't wish to collaborate with a renowned Senior?
Yet after becoming aware of the political implications of accepting the offer, Ves began to view it as a poisoned chalice. Would the benefits still outweigh the costs?
Fortunately, Professor Ventag didn't insist on an immediate answer. He calmly waited as Ves thought through the implications of the offer at his own pace. Such a major decision always required a good amount of consideration. The Senior's respect for Ves would take an immediate nosedive if the latter accepted the offer on an impulse.
First, Ves needed to decide whether it would be a good idea for Ves to to draw himself to the professor's camp.
Right now, Professor Ventag and NORA Consolidated possessed two major associations. They were connected to both the DCTI and the Tovar Family.
If Ves and the LMC collaborated with Ventag and NORA even for a single time, it would immediately signal to the mech industry that he had taken the DCTI's side.
While he would doubtlessly enjoy several benefits if he enjoyed the support of the DCTI, was it worth it for him to be on the opposite side of the AUMD?
Instinctively, Ves still wanted to remain out of the catfight between the two major institutions on Bentheim. Yet rationally, he had to admit that he would never be able to get in the good graces with the AUMD. His background and his current associations already disqualified him from entering their inner circle.
Since Ves would never be able to become friends with the AUMD, why not throw his lot with their main rival instead?
Enjoying the DCTI's backing would doubtlessly strengthen the LMC's position in Bentheim and the Republic's mech industry. He would have access to better suppliers, enjoy better protection in the market and open up opportunities for further collaboration with worthy colleagues.
Therefore, in exchange for closing the extremely minute and unlikely opportunity to become friendly with the AUMD, Ves would be better off cashing his chips with the DCTI immediately while Professor Ventag was still in a generous mood.
However, the DCTI was not an independent institution. The higher school in turn enjoyed heavy support from certain factions within the government, particularly the Tovar Family. If Ves threw his lot with the DCTI, he indirectly moved closer into Senator Tovar's camp as well. This was an even heavier implication that would permanently color Ves' standing within the Bright Republic!
Still, Senator Tovar seemed to favor him increasingly more. Was it really such a bad choice to accept the senator's generosity, especially since he already benefited substantially from his earlier rewards?
A lot of people would kill to catch Senator Tovar's attention and favor. Ves had a leg up from the rest with his various exploits, the most important of which was being instrumental in helping the old man prolong his life! Such a gift was of an incalculable amount of value, so Camden Tovar already thought of Ves quite fondly.
While Ves did not have any interest in becoming involved in any of the five founder families, he figured he would be propelled into their circle sooner or later as his company grew and became increasingly more prominent. If he followed a normal trajectory, he would have to work long and hard to become appreciated by any of the families.
Why not skip that tedious process and make a preemptive move in the direction of the Tovar Family? With the favor bestowed by their patriarch, Ves possessed enough confidence that he wouldn't be mistreated by the family.
Ves did not care about the DCTI. He did not care about the ambitions of the Tovar Family. This was purely a profit and benefit-driven decision. Whether the Tovar Family or Ramzi Family approached him first, he wasn't too picky who he ended up with. Right now, the Tovars had special reasons to favor Ves. Why not strike while the iron was hot and secure this favor?
The warning given by Major Verle rang increasingly hollow to Ves. If there was anything he learned since his return to the Bright Republic, it was that he inevitably needed political support if he wanted to get a leg up from the competition.
Major Verle served the Republic first and foremost. Whether as an agent of Flashlight or a mech officer of the Mech Corps, he only held a middle position which didn't expose him to the necessities to maintain a higher position in society. His opinions were mainly colored by the decisions and actions he witnesses from the higher ups.
No offense to Major Verle, but Ves stood at the cusp of taking a step ahead in society. Of course he needed to take a different approach in matters that ordinarily vexed those with inferior positions.
"Professor." Ves spoke up after five minutes of silent deliberations. "Please elaborate on the form this collaboration will take. I'd like to hear more about the process you have in mind."
Asking for clarification bought Ves some time and filled up the increasingly tense silence between the two mech designers.
Professor Ventag was happy to oblige. "Collaboration between mech designers can take many forms. I'm sure you're already aware of the basic forms. My involvement can be as extensive as you like depending on the form of collaboration."
"Can you provide me with some examples, professor?"
"The collaboration between two mech designers, especially of unequal ability, can take on a form that exist in a spectrum of involvement by the more able mech designer. If you aren't confident yet that you can live up to the standard expected from NORA Consolidated, you can be in charge of drafting a sketch of your mech concept and I will flesh it out into a complete technically-sound design while taking your input into account. If you want to take complete control, you can design your mech from start to finish while I can supervise your progress from a distance."
"Those are two very extreme examples." Ves noted. They also didn't sound very suitable for him even though he felt a great attraction towards the latter possibility. "What about the forms of collaboration that falls in between?"
"The most conventional collaboration would be to work together as equal co-developers in a design project. I don't recommend we go with this route as such projects never end well if the disparity in our design ability is too wide." Ventag shook his head. "We can also go for a division of labor, where you will work on the exterior of the design while I work on the internals. Again, this only works best if the mech designers involved are somewhat equal."
The professor proceeded to explain half-a-dozen other modes of collaboration, each of which aimed to pool the strengths of the mech designers involved in a different way. However, most of those choices came with various downsides and limitations.
It wasn't as easy as it sounded for multiple mech designers to coordinate their work on a single design project!
Ves in fact heard learned of several of those collaborative methods from his earlier studies under Professor Velten.
However, recapping all the different forms of collaboration helped Ves substantially in trying to figure out the best choice. Professor Ventag's personal insights on the benefits and pitfalls of each method illuminated the best way forward for Ves, though not for most mech designers.
"I design my mechs based on defining a prior vision of the end product." Ves stated at last.
"Ah. You graduated from the Rittersberg University of Technology, correct? It would make sense for them to instill this method to you. While it helps keep mech designers on track with their original intentions for their designs, the method will only allow you to express mechs that are only as good as your imagination will allow. Are you aware of the nuances of your approach?"
Ves couldn't help but smirk. "I am a very creative mech designer. I consider my imagination to be one of my main strengths as a mech designer. The prior vision method suits me perfectly."
"The iterative evolution method is more prevalent among higher-ranked mech designers. Are you certain you don't wish to use this method instead? As long as you are willing to push the boundaries of what you are capable of, every design project is a journey of exploration. What we intended to design from the start of our journey can diverge enormously from the design we produce at the end after thousands of iterations."
"Such a method is not for me." Ves firmly shook his head. He already witnessed the other method when he interacted with Oleg, Master Olson's youngest direct disciple. "It involves leaving too many decisions to the results of simulations. For me, it feels as if I am letting algorithms co-design my mech. I want to make my own design choices, even if they aren't the most optimal. What I lose in synergy and optimisation, I'll be able to make it up with increased coherence and compatibility."
"Interesting perspective." Professor Ventag said with a patronizing smile. "Since you are very certain about the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen design methods, I'll not argue with you further. It is certainly easier for us to be on the same page if I am fully aware of what you are designing towards. So how do you wish for me to be involved?"
This was a difficult question. The more a Senior Mech Designer contributed to the design, the less Ves left his mark on his design.
Perhaps a normal Apprentice didn't care so much about this attribute, but Ves stood out because this was incredibly vital to his work!
The more Ves worked on a design, the more he impressed it with his Spirituality. The more he exposed the living images in his mind to the design they would house one day, the stronger its X-Factor took shape!
Professor Ventag's assistance with the project actively weakened its X-Factor in proportion to his involvement!
This was also one of the main reasons why Ves always felt leery about collaborating on a design project. If he ever wanted to design a mech with a strong X-Factor but in a teamwork environment, then he needed to be firmly in charge of the project.
To design a mech that fit the values and aspirations of the LMC, Ves could not afford to choose an equal partnership or letting Professor Ventag take the lead in the design project.
Ves needed to be in charge, yet if he insisted on this choice, he also needed to pay the price.
Any mech he designed would inevitably fall short of Professor Ventag's standards. His design simply wouldn't perform as well as one of NORA Consolidated many solid designs.
If the LMC and NORA jointly published such a mech design, then the latter company would come under intense scrutiny. The mech industry would be wondering why NORA associated themselves with a mech design that was significantly below standard from their usual offerings.
Even if Professor Ventag felt grateful to Ves, the Senior would inevitably be less enthused at such a consequence.
Therefore, the right answer involved a mix. Ves needed to test his understanding of the X-Factor and find out the extent he could maintain its strength while drawing upon the assistance of a very capable mech designer to shore up some of the shortcomings of the design.
"This is a design project where I'm allowed to express myself, right?"
"As I've stated, the collaborative project is an opportunity for you to learn something and help you on your way to advancing to Journeyman. The end product is not as important as the process. That said, if you wish for your mech company to benefit from our association, you will also need to make sure you produce a good quality mech design."
If Ves wanted to accelerate his advancement, then he should do most of the work himself. If he instead wanted to boost the reputation and brand of the LMC, then he should instead accept Professor Ventag's assistance on a wider scale.
Ves was not satisfied with choosing one over the other. He wanted to have it both ways, and he saw a way to make that possible.
Ves began to put out his proposal.
Chapter 1032
"I'd like to be sole lead designer for our design project." Ves firmly declared. "I want to design a mech that for the most part conforms to my vision. However, I would also like to take advantage of your assistance in solving some of the more nitty-gritty design problems and help in optimizing my design so that it can reach its greatest potential. In effect, I would like for you to play the role as a contributing designer to the project."
"Good choice, though you will need to have the skills to back up your ambition. However, I like your confidence." Professor Ventag evaluated. "How much contribution do you expect from my end?"
"Hmm..." Ves tried to imagine how much would be acceptable without severely impacting the cohesion of his design's X-Factor. "How about a seventy-five to twenty-five percent split? I will be responsible for the majority of the design choices, but I will leave you with the smaller and more difficult ones."
Professor Ventag smiled ruefully at Ves. "You're not leaving me with much autonomy. Do you know that this is a rather disrespectful way to treat a Senior?"
"This is the best way for my company and I to gain something from the experience. I hope I can rely on your assistance in this form." Ves replied boldly.
He knew that this was an exceptional circumstance and where the usual rules didn't apply. Ves would be a fool to forgo greater benefits in favor of making a better impression of the professor.
Fortunately, Ventag was in a generous mood. "I will indulge just this once, Ves. Just be aware that this is an exceptional privilege and a unique opportunity for you. Not just any Apprentice as a Senior at their disposal who can refine their work and polish it into a greater design than they are ever capable of producing themselves. I'm actually rather intrigued whether your bold gamble will succeed."
The Senior did not exaggerate when he described the collaborative design project as a gamble. It depended heavily on whether Ves could set an inspiring vision and make the correct design choices during the design process.
In a collaborative project where Professor Ventag would only be responsible for twenty-five percent of the design work, he would not be able to steer the design too strongly in a different direction.
If the Senior received a good base for a mech design, then he would be able to elevate it into an excellent end product.
On the other hand, if Professor Ventag received a trashy design from Ves, then no matter how hard he worked the end product would never be able to be more than junk.
Even with these perils, Ves still maintained confidence in himself. His various advantages and experiences were no less than most Journeyman Mech Designers!
He believed he could already design a mech that surpassed the Crystal Lord in design excellence by himself! Drawing upon the bountiful expertise of a Senior Mech Designer to increase the performance of the joint design while retaining all of the major traits set by Ves would only result in a mech that embodied the strengths of both designers!
Ves already envisioned if the joint project led to success. He'd be credited with designing a mech that exhibited most of the technical excellence from the work of a Senior while carrying the spark of life that only a unique mech designer like Ves could bestow on his mechs!
Such a great mech was worthy to represent the LMC and NORA Consolidated!
Of course, it wouldn't be easy to reach such a height. Ves' mood sunk back from the clouds as he started to consider the practical decisions associated with the joint project.
"So you accept my proposition?" Professor Ventag reiterated.
"Let me consider for a few more minutes."
Even though it wasn't an entirely good idea for Ves to accept the offer and thereby throw his lot with the DCTI and the Tovar Family, he simply couldn't resist any longer.
If there was one activity a mech designer loved the most, it was designing a new mech! Right now, Ves not only received the opportunity to do so, but also take advantage of the expertise, resources, experience, backing and reputation of a genuine Senior!
Ves was well aware that Professor Ventag held ulterior motives when he threw out this piece of bait. Yet the professor crafted this bait specifically to attract someone like Ves. He swallowed the bait knowing that he'd be reeled in by the fisherman.
This was because he believed that if he swallowed this bait, he would very likely be able to transform from a tiny goldfish into a majestic carp!
A major collaborative design project like this that resulted in a mech design for the market had very major implications! It might even be a bestseller in the best-case scenario! Achieving such a wide impact would very likely push him over the threshold that always held him back from advancing to Journeyman!
As an Apprentice who had been stuck at this rank for only a couple of years, he already felt the numerous limitations associated with this status.
The Mech Corps, the Bright Republic, the Komodo Star Sector, the frontier, the mech market, the mech industry, the MTA, the CFA, Senator Tovar, Professor Velten, Professor Enoch, Professor Ventag, the Skull Architect and everyone else all treated Apprentices like kids!
As soon as he advanced to Journeyman, Ves would be able to experience a sea of change in the way those people and organizations treated him. He would finally be able to join the ranks of adults within the profession and be able to take part in very consequential decisions.
When Ves imagined the power, wealth and influence wielded by Kadar and Neyvis of the KNG, he always aspired to reach the same height.
Even though Ves was pretty sure that he'd be able to advance within five years if nothing hugely adverse happened to him, advancing earlier rather than later immediately improved his circumstances.
At the very least, Senator Tovar, Flashlight and the Mech Corps wouldn't treat him as a disposable pawn anymore! This would at least be able to guarantee his safety and security during the remainder of the war, assuming the upcoming peace talks went bust.
Even if Senator Tovar succeeded in establishing an early end of the war, his early elevation to Journeyman would definitely be able to boost the prospects of the LMC. Even as debt-laden as it was now, there was a huge difference between a mech company led by and Apprentice and a mech company led by a Journeyman!
The sooner he righted the ship of the LMC, the sooner he could begin to accumulate a war chest in preparation for the impending introduction of the new generation mechs and mech technology.
Another consideration was that the sooner Ves advanced, the more his standing within the mech industry increased. Someone who advanced before reaching thirty standard years would definitely be earmarked as someone with high potential.
Ves considered it to be a vain competition within the mech industry. A Journeyman who just advanced at fifty years old could design a mech just as good as a mech designed by a Journeyman who recently advanced at thirty years old.
Yet because the latter enjoyed more growth prospects and possessed a higher chance to advance to Senior and Master, these younger talents received a lot more preferential treatment from their colleagues, various institutions and even the mighty MTA.
What did this mean? Thirty years was an important if highly arbitrary dividing line! If Ves somehow took his time and advanced at thirty-one years old, he wouldn't enjoy any preferential treatment! This was because he was a fossil compared to the younger and nimbler talents who already became Journeymen while they were twenty-five years old or so. This was how the mech industry worked!
Ves did not feel completely confident in advancing to Journeyman before reaching thirty. Reaching Journeyman was a very difficult chance to grab at the best of times. Nobody could predict how long it took. Yet this collaborative project might make a huge difference in securing this elusive chance.
Even if Ves could always fall back on the System to help him advance his career somehow if he failed to stand out in the mech industry, he would rather rely on his own achievements!
In the end, he closed his eyes before opening them in a determined glint. "I am certain of my decision now. I accept your offer. I'd like to collaborate you with a design."
"Good! We can sign the contract and paperwork later." Professor Ventag jubilantly declared before settling down. "Now, while you are still drafted by the Mech Corps, I can easily ask Senator Tovar to arrange for you to be assigned to me and my company for the duration of your recovery from the injuries you've sustained from the assassination attempt on you. That's pretty much the excuse that the Mech Corps has already adopted when they allowed you to take part in his peace delegation."
Ves nodded in understanding. "How much time do I have?"
"I am a very busy man, so while I am willing to collaborate with you, let us not linger too long on it. Six months. That's long enough for you to produce a good design without any major flaws."
"I'm good with that. Shall I work on it immediately?"
"You can work on it whenever you are not fulfilling your original obligations to Senator Tovar. As long as the peace talks are still ongoing, you should put your full effort in advancing Senator Tovar's interests."
"I understand my priorities." Ves nodded again. The peace talks wouldn't stretch for months and contact wouldn't take place every moment, so Ves was sure that he could sneak in some design work during his breaks. "How do you wish to split the profit gained from sales?"
It was best for them to set the money matters at the start. Leaving it for later would only lead to disputes.
"It depends on our relative contributions, the value of our contributions and which companies will be responsible for production. I highly suggest you leave the production of the mech model to NORA Consolidated. My company will be able to insure that quality will be maintained even at a high rate of production."
Ves did not entirely agree with the Senior there. Perhaps it would be okay to do so for the bronze and silver label editions of his mech, but he still wanted to retain the right to fabricate the gold label edition of his mechs in his own facilities by hand.
He negotiated for this possibility as well as a variety of other terms. Although they only made verbal agreements right now, they both recorded the conversation and Professor Ventag would make sure to put them into a formal contract.
A Senior wouldn't stoop so low to fudge the terms of the contract to his advantage, though Ves resolved to read the entire contract carefully later on to make sure.
Overall, as the weaker party who greatly took advantage of the help offered by Professor Ventag, Ves inevitably had to give up the majority of the profits.
Eventually, they settled for a relatively 'generous' split for Ves where the LMC received twenty-five percent of the profits while NORA Consolidated ate up seventy-five percent of the profits!
This was basically the reverse of their level of contribution in the joint design project. While it sounded incredibly unfair, in actual fact the split heavily undervalued the huge amount of assistance provided by a Senior Mech Designer and his huge mech company!
Ves believed he absolutely gained a bargain with such a profit split! This was because if the design lived up to everything he hoped for, it wasn't impossible for sales of his mechs to reach tens of thousand or even a hundred-thousand units sold per year!
Grabbing a smaller piece of the pie was acceptable if the pie was big enough. Of course, in order to bake this huge pie, Ves needed to put an incredible amount of effort in designing the best mech he could ever produce as an Apprentice!
He immediately arrived at his first major design decision.
"What type of mech do you wish to design?" Professor Ventag asked. "A landbound mech? An aerial mech? A spaceborn mech? Do you wish to design a light skirmisher, or a medium knight? Do you wish to reiterate your old work or break new ground by designing a mech type that isn't part of your existing mech catalog?"
Chapter 1033
Now that Ves came around to accepting this mixed blessing of an offer, he wanted to take maximum advantage of this opportunity.
Seniors rarely accommodated Apprentices when it came to designing mechs. The differences in ability and perspective were too vast. If they showed off their prowess too much, not only would the role of the junior mech designers be diminished to grunt workers polishing the design from the side, they might also be incalculably damaged by the exposure to advantaged techniques their minds couldn't comprehend!
Ves happened to be fairly resistant to the latter problem. He was like a Journeyman in that sense as his mind was strong enough to bear the exposure with minimal effects.
At least he thought so. Well, his previous flirting with trying to understand high technology worked well enough for him, he figured, so what was the harm?
Another reason why Seniors didn't let Apprentices take charge was because it was usually detrimental to their own advancement trajectory. Mech designers needed to learn how to design mechs and mech parts through their own efforts.
While this did not preclude any assistance from fellow mech designers, there was a difference between teamwork and handholding. The assistance of a Senior could easily turn into outright handholding as the latter fixed all of the mistakes of the former.
This was a very real risk with the current joint project. However, Ves did not plan to involve the Senior at all until the latter stages of the design phases where he completed taking all of the major conceptual decisions that defined his design.
If Ves made some mistakes at this juncture, it would be very inconvenient and time consuming to correct them. It would also break the integrity of his vision if he needed to reverse course due to a mistake.
Therefore, simply put, Ves needed to put on his very best performance. His fourth original design, after the Blackbeak, Crystal Lord and the Enduring Protector, needed to be a stellar mech even before Professor Ventag got his hands on the design!
To put it in another way, Ves intended to design his mech in a largely solo affair and deliver a feature-complete product that could immediately be brought to market after some testing. Instead of doing so, he would hand the design over to the Senior, who would make an extensive pass over the design and tweak and optimise it in a limited fashion.
The goal at this stage wasn't necessarily to add new features, but to improve and optimize the existing ones while working away at any flaws that didn't take too much effort to mitigate.
Such a method actually reminded him of the Superpublish function, which he had only used once some time ago to give his Crystal Lord some extra oomph.
It was too bad the Superpublish function came at a high price. In return for slightly elevating the quality and performance of his design by ten percent, it painfully prevented Ves from earning any DP on completing its design and selling its copies to the market.
Ves must have lost tens of thousands of DP from missing the earnings of selling the Crystal Lord model!
Even so, he did not regret the decision. Back then, the Crystal Lord needed to be of breakout quality in order to make a splash in the market. If not for designing a mech whose quality surpassed his current ability back then, it wouldn't have been such an enduring seller these days just when the LMC most needed a steady cash flow.
At this time, Ves did not have access to the System nor its Superpublish function. Instead, he had something even better. The formidable ability and experience of a Senior could potentially elevate the parameters of a design by much more than ten percent in some areas!
Best of all, Ves did not have to give up his right to claim the DP earnings from selling the mech, although he did wonder how the System would treat sales of mechs designed in collaboration. Would Ves be able to earn the full DP amount or only a proportion of his contribution?
No matter. Just like with credits, Ves was ready to accept a cut in his DP earnings so long as the mech became a major hit and much of NORA Consolidated existing customer base bought the new product in large quantities!
Professor Ventag saw Ves still deliberating on the choice of what kind of mech he wanted to design. In order to help the younger mech designer along, he provided some guidance.
"You should keep the current conditions of the mech market in mind. We are in the twilight of the current mech generation. The next generation will set upon us within five to ten years. What you need to do is to come up with a vision of a mech that will not only sell well in the current generation, but also in the next generation."
Ves looked up at that. Ventag may have some insider knowledge on this transition. "Do you know exactly when the MTA will introduce the next mech generation?"
"Nobody knows, least of all the MTA." Ventag shook his head. "The contents and timing of the introduction of new mech technologies, standards and regulations is a complex affair that involves many different interests in the galaxy. Both from within and without, the MTA is constantly being lobbied by every mech designer with a stake in what kind of standards the organization wishes to popularize and standardize. Each decision will make some influences a big winner while relegating many other influences to losers. Even now, negotiations are still very much ongoing, and until they end the new generation won't arrive."
In other words, it was anyone's guess on what the exact date would be. However, the general time frame of five to ten years was already sufficient enough to plan around.
"So if I want to design a good mech, I'll have to straddle between the generations, huh?"
"That is my advice if you want to avoid designing a mech that will only be relevant for five to ten years. In general, the price categories of your mechs downgrade by one level after the transition to a new mech generation. For example, your Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords are both categorized as premium mechs. In the next generation, they become less attractive as their performance won't be able to keep up with the newer mechs that come out. Your LMC will be forced to discount them by at least twenty percent, pushing their prices down into midrange territory. Do you understand?"
Ves got the point. He also grappled with this issue several times. "A premium mech in this generation will only be able to sell for the same price as a midrange mech of the next generation. A lastgen midrange mech can only be sold for the price of a currentgen budget mech. A budget mech can only be sold for the price of a bargain bin mech."
Ventag chuckled. "What an odd term, but yes, the last decision you want to make is to go on to design a mech at the bottom price category. A cheap mech with a listed price of 3 million credits will quickly devalue to 2.5 million credits or less after the change to the new generation. While the drop in prices doesn't sound very steep at first, the profit margins of those mechs are razor-thin to begin with. When you only earn 50,000 credits per sale, a price drop of 500,000 credits plainly relegates your new mech design to the archives."
What Professor Ventag just described also came with another message. One that Ves was keenly aware of. "The other important point that I have to keep in mind is that my new design better feature a high profit margin, right?"
"Correct." The Senior nodded gently. "Certain products are more easily sold in high volumes. Yet high demand also attracts a lot of competition. The increased supply of mechs depresses everyone's profit margins as they seek to lower their prices in order to capture market share. In such a case, designing a mech in a highly-contested product category should only be left to the confident, capable and clever companies of a certain scale."
The requirements of this upcoming mech design bumped up even further. Ves not only needed to design a great mech that was worthy of Professor Ventag and NORA Consolidated's attention, but it also needed to make an ample amount of profit!
Considering an overall price drop of twenty percent in list prices whenever currentgen mechs turn into lastgen mechs, at a minimum his new design should offer a profit margin of forty percent to be an enduring seller across two generations!
Asking Ves to fulfill such difficult criteria would take every bit of effort. He would have to squeeze as much potential he accumulated and thereby design a mech that might very well push him over to Journeyman!
Only now did Ves realize that Professor Ventag's offer did not only serve the purpose of rewarding him and pushing him into his camp. Participating in the joint design project also served as a test of his abilities!
It was a shrewd decision. It made sense that Professor Ventag wanted to test what Ves was capable of first-hand. Records and archival data could only tell so much, especially when most of his designs were several years old and did not represent his current abilities.
If Ves came up short for this test, then Professor Ventag's expectations in him would inevitably diminish. Senator Tovar might also follow suit. Now that Ves joined their camp, it was imperative for him to keep building his relations with these powerful figures.
One day, Ves would be able to grow to a point where other people needed to look up to him for protection and favors, but until that time arrived, he needed to keep his head down and work towards his advancement.
"Can I think about it some more?" Ves asked. "I think I will need some time to contemplate on what type of mech I want to design and what my initial vision for the mech will be. I'd rather prefer to be by myself when I exercise my imagination."
He preferred the solace of quiet isolation when he came up with these ideas. As much as Professor Ventag's presence offered him a convenient source of information whenever he had questions, ultimately the joint project revolved around his design, not the Senior's design. Ves wanted to emphasize his ownership of the design in order to maintain the strength and purity of its X-Factor.
The professor nodded. "Take all the time you want. The project runs for six months, and it isn't unusual for mech designers to take months to deliberate on the archetypes and criteria their designs need to fulfill. Even so, don't waste your time trying to second-guess yourself all the time. If you are confident in your decision, just make it and move on. Perfect design concepts don't exist. Stupid ideas can result in brilliant innovative mech designs while clever ideas may end up producing garbage designs."
Basically, Professor Ventag warned Ves that it was the execution of the design process that really mattered. The initial concept and vision of a mech did not have to be as perfect or exceptional as possible in order to form the base of a bestselling mech.
As Ves exited the design studio, he slowly walked back to the lounge instead of his cabin. Before he knew it, he returned in Lord Javier's company.
"What did that mech designer want?" The noble asked.
"Design a new mech together."
"That's a big deal right?"
"Yeah. It's mostly up to me to determine what kind of mech I want to design."
Lord Javier didn't look very interested. Someone like him mainly piloted custom mechs tailored for his use. The mass-produced mech models marketed towards the private sector mainly couldn't keep up with his performance.
"So what are you planning to design?"
"I'm not sure yet." Ves admitted. "I'm trying to decide whether to go for something familiar or something new. An opportunity like this doesn't come every day, so I have to make a very careful decision on what to design."
When it came to the type of mechs he wanted to design, he already came up with two possible choices.
They were both spaceborn mechs.
Chapter 1034
Ves wanted to tread into designing spaceborn mechs for a while now. Even though he lacked serious design experience in this area, his extensive amount of time as head designer with the Flagrant Vandals gave him more than enough insights on how spaceborn mechs worked.
Witnessing the likes of their internally-developed Inheritor and Hellcat mechs in combat and dealing with the aftermath of every battle tended to bring him up to speed with this class of mechs even if he never designed one from scratch.
He knew their main design traits and their strengths and weaknesses. Different from landbound mechs, their legs didn't serve as the foundation of their mech frames. Instead, all of that importance went into the flight system mounted on their backs.
This flight system not only consumed a lot of energy, it was also a major weak point present in every spaceborn mech due to its fragile structure.
Unlike legs which could be armored and weighed down as much as a mech designer wanted, the flight systems were as fragile as sticks in comparison. Armoring them helped protect them against shrapnel and incidental damage, but the currents state of flight system technology didn't allow them to be covered under many layers of armor.
This basically forced any spaceborn mech to carry around a permanent target on their backs.
The various dynamics introduced with the addition of a flight system onto any mech put aerial mechs and spaceborn mechs into drastically different machines compared to landbound mechs.
Even so, Ves felt ready to make the step into designing a spaceborn mech. Laida Nnvist's tutoring, his own studies, his broad experiences in working with spaceborn mechs with the Flagrant Vandals, his design work on the Evaporating Spear during a ritual duel with the Church of Haatumak and also his work as a supervisor for the mech designers working as analysts to dissect the Vesian mech models at Frozen Point Research Base all gave him an ample amount of theoretical preparation for this task.
It was harder to design a spaceborn mech than a landbound mech. While many mech designers immediately hit the ground running by designing spaceborn mechs from the start of their careers, such a luxury was only relegated to the rich, powerful or well-prepared among starting mech designers.
Even Ves did not dare to enter the market for spaceborn mechs until now.
The added difficulty and complexity around spaceborn mechs meant that there was significantly less mech models for sale from the bottom end of the market. However, the competition was just as fierce regardless.
Having successfully brought two different mech models to markets, Ves did not fear the challenge of trying to compete in the busy spaceborn mech markets. Still, just like before, he needed to be prudent and thoughtful on how to position his next product in the market.
Even with Professor Ventag's help, it was extremely unlikely that his products would be able to capture a big chunk of market share in any of the major product categories.
"What kind of mechs do you want to design, Ves?" Lord Javier idly asked as he took a swig of his mug of beer.
Ves first explained his rationale. "I want to design something new. The LMC won't benefit if I design a successor to my two prior mech designs when they remain enduring sellers. Yet I also wanted to stick to my strengths. I would be doing Professor Ventag and the market a disservice if I rashly design a mech from an archetype I don't have sufficient experience in working with. Considering these concerns, I've come up with the decision to design a space knight or a spaceborn rifleman mech. I also considered designing a spaceborn light skirmisher inspired by the Inheritor mechs of the Flagrant Vandals for a time."
That cause Lord Javier to raise his head. "A light skirmisher? That sounds interesting. Why did you rule it out?"
Yes, Ves truly considered designing a spaceborn light skirmisher. One of the most prevalent mech models he fixed and tweaked while he held the position of head designer was their ubiquitous Inheritor mechs. He held very strong feelings for this modest but extremely mobile-centric mech model.
Such inspiration served as great fuel in any design endeavors related to the Inheritor mech model.
Yet practical concerns hindered him from pursuing this particular passion. "A light skirmisher is by nature more affordable to manufacturers and buyers that want a quick and cheap option to bolster their numbers. Rarely do you ever hear of premium-priced light skirmishers, while mid-range light skirmishers are also in low demand. They're predominantly sold at budget or bargain bin price levels. Not only that, the competition is so high that profit margins are thinner as well. If I want to keep my mech design relevant for at least twenty years instead of just five years, then I will have to start with a high profit margin!"
The higher the profit margin, the longer his mech model remained economically viable to produce and sell! The longer the LMC and NORA Consolidated sold copies of their joint design, the more they continued to associate with each other!
As long as the joint design remained relevant in the market, the LMC would continue to be able to borrow the reputation of the larger and more successful company!
It was like an older brother helping his younger brother get his footing.
After witnessing the scale and prosperity of the Kadar-Neyvis Group and knowing that the NORA Consolidated dwarfed that company, Ves had no illusion that the LMC was merely a footnote in comparison. It could definitely benefit from the help offered by a big brother.
With longevity as a goal, Ves needed to design a mech with sufficiently high profit margins. This gave him greater room to adjust the pricing of the mechs based on the design according to the circumstances.
The passing of years, the introduction of a new mech generation, the fluctuating prices of raw material prices and changing market sentiment all affected how much it cost to fabricate a mech and how much it sold for in the market.
It was almost certain that he needed to keep cutting the prices of his existing mech models over time. Older was cheaper. This was a fundamental rule in many markets, not just with mechs.
In this regard, it was better for him to design a more expensive than a cheaper one. Therefore, as much as Ves pined over designing a light skirmisher, he would be making an awful decision from a business perspective if he mindlessly gave in to his passion.
While it was possible to design a premium light skirmisher whose excellent performance more than warranted its considerable price tag, it would be a very niche product. That would be an enormous waste of Professor Ventag and NORA Consolidated's help in designing a mech that could capture some actual market share in some of the hotly-contested product categories.
"So it's either a space knight or a rifleman mech, right? I don't have a lot of experience in piloting a mech in space, so I can't give you a lot of advance. What I do know is that the latter is sold a lot."
Space was big and empty. The fighting distance predominant in space battles was usually at least ten times as large as the distance adopted in land battles. That gave ranged mechs an undeniably strong edge, though the mobility of most melee mechs was also significantly higher in a space environment!
Ves recalled the rumors he heard on what the next generation intended to introduce. "They say the next mech generation will feature a strong evolution of laser weapon technology. If I want to design a rifleman mech in the current generation that will somewhat remain relevant in the next one, I should stick to weapons with physical damage types. In this case, I could opt for a ballistic rifle, a kinetic rifle or a railgun."
Lord Javier whistled. "Railguns are expensive, right? They're also fragile and more prone to break I heard."
"You're right." Ves nodded in agreement. "They're not very practical in states like the Bright Republic. Ballistic rifles are usually cheap but there's not a lot of profit to be made there. Kinetic rifles affords more room for innovation and they're more desirable in space battles as well."
"Even so, rifles with physical damage types lose out against laser rifles in one important aspect. It takes time for rounds and projectiles to reach their target. With how often mechs begin to fight at long range, that travel time makes those weapons useless unless the mechs can close in. Do you really think you can design a spaceborn kinetic rifleman mech that sells well?"
Ves shook his head. The flaw pointed out by Lord Javier was a serious detriment to the value of any kinetic rifleman mech design. At least railguns propelled their slugs and physical projectiles fast enough to mitigate the impact of travel time at longer ranges, but conventional rifles lacked that power.
"Now that I think about it, it's just not a good idea to publish a ballistic or kinetic rifleman mech unless I'm absolutely confident my mech comes with a compelling feature that compensates for that critical weakness."
A gimmick like the alien crystal technology incorporated in the Crystal Lord served as a good example. His landbound laser rifleman mech design would never be able to stand out from the market without the exotic features the alien tech brought to the table.
Right now, though, Ves couldn't think of any exotic tech that he could apply to a spaceborn kinetic rifleman mech design. The prospects of designing a successful mech of this type became dimmer and dimmer in his mind.
He decided to shift his attention to his third choice. Would it be practical for him to design a space knight, or would he be forced to rule it out over practical concerns and contemplate other alternatives?
"What do you think about knight mechs?" Ves asked Lord Javier.
Since he had a skilled mech pilot at his disposal, he might as well milk him for all he was worth!
"I can't say too much about the mechs themselves. They're too slow and sluggish to my liking." Lord Javier scoffed. "In my experience, the people who pilot knight mechs come in three categories. They're either bums who don't have the skill to pilot more mobile mechs so they're relegated to piloting a slow but easy mech type. The next category consists of decent mech pilots with a versatile skillset that are forced to pilot knight mechs because none of their colleagues can do any better."
"And the last category?" Ves asked, though he already had an inkling of the answer from his first Mastery experience.
"The true believers. The noble knights in shining armor." Lord Javier sneered, making his contempt for these delusional fools obvious to Ves. "Some of these guys and girls are really serious about this chivalry nonsense. Even so, I can't deny that they're usually the best mech pilots that can handle knight mechs. They don't treat their machines as a cumbersome burden. They embrace its sluggish mass, its formidable protection and combine it in a momentum-based fighting style that allows them to hit harder in a single blow than any other mech type except lancer mechs."
Ves neglected to distinguish between the different kinds of users of his mechs. Influenced by his Mastery, his previous Blackbeak design squarely aimed towards the chivalrous mech pilots, though it did not exclude other types of customers. However, there was no doubt that this mech was harder to pilot due to its higher mobility and performance ceiling.
The question was whether Ves should design a space knight with similar parameters to his old Blackbeak or diverge from that and break new ground?
"There aren't actually a lot of mech pilots in the third category, right?"
Lord Javier shook his head. "Nope. It's crap, and most mech pilots know that. Most of the time, mech pilots are assigned to knight mechs. They never do so out of their own volition because let's face it, there's joy in piloting a mech that acts like a mobile damage sponge for the enemy. To these mech pilots, it's better if the mech in question is easy to pick up and master. A high skill ceiling isn't necessarily good if the skill floor is raised as well. Do you get what I mean?"
"I understand." Ves nodded.
Basically, he'd be able to sell more mechs if he designed space knight designed specifically to accommodate all-rounders as opposed to specialists in piloting knight mechs.
Yet doing so would also diverge from his prior knowledge and experiences. The question Ves currently faced was whether he should defer to his experience or market demand.
Should he venture even further into new territory or stick with the familiar now that he already made the major decision to venture into spaceborn mechs?
Chapter 1035
It was all well and good for Ves to consider designing a space knight. He already knew that they sold for quite a decent profit margin for that product or product margin for short as long as they caught on in the market.
Knight mechs were more expensive than other mechs at the same level of specs due to the high cost of armor. The most expensive component of a mech by far was its armor plating. The thicker the armor, the greater the cost.
However, this also allowed mech manufacturers to get away with charging more for knight mechs than say a light skirmisher.
The market expected knight mechs to be more expensive, ergo the mech companies obliged by collectively bumping up their prices despite the stiff competition. Any mech that was cheaper than the predominant price levels were usually sold by small, struggling mech companies.
The danger in maintaining a thin product margin when selling something like a knight mech was that they became immensely vulnerable to fluctuations in the prices of raw materials needed to fabricate the armor system of the mech model.
Because armor factored so hugely in the production cost of a knight mech, a modest fluctuation in price could immediately double or outright wipe out the product margin of a knight mech model on the market!
Any small mech company that tried to sell knight mechs at a margin of five percent or less was really playing with fire!
In short, as long as Ves designed a good space knight that Professor Ventag subsequently elevated to a higher level of performance, it wouldn't be too difficult to introduce his new product at a product margin as high as forty percent!
His silver label Blackbeaks started selling at 65 million credits a piece when they initially came out. With a production cost of around 45 million credits per mech, the Blackbeak's product margin was roughly thirty percent.
This was very high for a mech designed by a new entrant in the mech industry!
If Ves managed to succeed in achieving such a generous product margin with his first original mech design, then he held a sufficient amount of confidence that he could top that for his fourth original mech design.
Of course, the true cost picture of a mech model wasn't as simple as that. Licensing costs, taxes, after-sales services and more all served to muddle up the profits generated from sales.
Even so, starting high was better than starting low.
Right now, Ves made a rough determination of the market demand for space knights. According to Lord Javier, every mech force needed at least a couple to cover for their more vulnerable mechs.
"Space battles aren't my thing, but I've trained for it in case I ever need to jump into the cockpit of a spaceborn mech." The noble stated as he stared down his empty mug of beer. "Still, I've hung around with enough mech pilots to know that every spaceborn mech force needs them. On land, many mech companies can get away without bringing knight mechs because on most battlefield there's sufficient hard cover on land for mechs to take advantage of. Many times, you don't get that luxury in space."
Spaceborn mech forces either had three choices there.
The first choice was that they could take the offensive and hit the enemy so hard and fast that they didn't become exposed to ranged fire. Lancer mechs and light skirmishers came to mind.
The second choice was that they could fight around their much larger carrier vessels. They could take advantage of their huge bulk to shield their more vulnerable mechs from enemy fire.
This was usually considered as a desperation move because carriers served as motherships to any spaceborn mech force. Once a force lost a carrier, they lost the ability to move around a large amount of mechs! They became stuck and shackled in the star system the battle took place!
The third and most sustainable choice was to field a number of defensive space knights. Space knights took advantage of a combination of formidable defensive power with decent mobility in space to offer continuous cover under changing circumstances.
The tactical flexibility they offered turned them into an indispensable mech type for most conventional spaceborn mech troops along with rifleman mechs.
In other words, this was a product category that always sold well and in relative large numbers.
A high and stable sales pattern as well as increased tolerance for higher price margins in the market all led to stiff competition, however. Ves knew that his space knight design must be a truly exceptional piece of work in order to capture even a fraction of a percentage of this huge product category!
While Ves could rely on Professor Ventag's contribution in the joint project to push his design up to that standard, it depended heavily whether Ves could design a compelling mech of sufficient quality.
He had the confidence to design a good mech. But did he have what it takes to design a compelling mech?
It depended on his creativity, imagination, inspiration and passion.
His Blackbeak design did not emerge from a whim. Neither did his Crystal Lord design. He came up with the visions for both mech designs when he became inspired by external influences.
This was the artistic side to mech design. It didn't matter how skilled Ves was in the technical side of his profession. Without a bountiful imagination, he could forget about crafting an exciting concept for his knight mech design.
Ves was not in an inspired mood right now.
He glanced towards Lord Javier who went on to order another mug of beer and decided that he wouldn't gain any inspiration from the man.
"Thanks for answering my questions. I'll be off now."
"Keep me in the loop on your progress, Ves!"
"Will do."
As Ves returned to his cabin on the Lormant Carnival, he began to consider his approach. If he wanted to come up with an inspired concept for his mech, then he needed to stoke his passion somehow.
Thinking back to the past, Ves knew that he would get fired up to design a mech in two different instances.
The first instance would be when he came under intense pressure. This always enabled him to exert his full potential during competitions and design duels when a lot was at stake.
The second instance was when he became inspired by a good story.
In fact, Ves always designed his mechs around stories. Stories enlivened his mechs by breathing life into the images he conjured up in his mind with the Triple Division technique.
Of those instances where Ves made use of stories to enrich the spiritual essence of his designs, none were as effective as using stories that really took place!
"The Crystal Lord design is a shining example of this method!"
In effect, the Crystal Lord was the result of blending reality with imagination. By basing and anchoring the fantasies conjured up by his imagination with real elements, he gave them an easier path towards materializing them closer to reality!
By making use of the spiritual remnants and story of the leader of the miniature race of extinct crystal builders, Ves succeeded in designing his first mech with an X-Factor rated in the B-grade for the very first time!
If Ves wanted to justice to himself, the LMC and Professor Ventag's faith in his ability to design a mech, then he needed to at least match his previous high point in his career. Making use of real individuals and real history would be a good starting point.
"A real story, huh?"
Ves experienced a lot of harrowing adventures and ordeals ever since the war broke out. His time with the Flagrant Vandals left a strong and indelible mark on him, sometimes for the worse but often times for the better.
No matter how mixed he felt about the journey to the Aeon Corona System and the mission to uncover the treasures of the fallen Starlight Megalodon, he was never quite the same when he came back.
He idly chuckled as he sat behind his terminal in his cabin. He hadn't turned it on because he couldn't do much with it anyway with his current authorizations.
While he suffered through many awful situations, it wasn't always bad. He witnessed new wonders, outsmarted several enemies and managed to come back alive with plentiful treasures, the most important of which fixed the many flaws on his hybrid alien physique and improved its overall parameters.
Ves wanted to commemorate his time with the Flagrant Vandals by designing a mech that embodied an aspect of that unforgettable adventure!
"I've witnessed many exciting battles and strange events, but which ones are relevant to space knights or knight mechs?"
Not so much, at least on the top of his head. Ves tried to go over instances related to defensive mechs and only came up with a couple of examples that didn't really inspire him that much.
"Perhaps the most defining moment took place we tried to pass through the Venidse Duchy."
A detachment of the Frosty Meteors of the Venidsan mech legions cornered the Verle Task Force some time after departing from the Detemen System after a successful raid.
What struck Ves the most was that despite their lack of numbers, the heavy-armored mechs of the Frosty Meteors inexorably closed in on the stranded fleet of the Flagrant Vandals!
No matter how much firepower the Vandal mechs unleashed on the Venidsan mechs, the Frosty Meteors endured an incredible amount of damage!
If not for Venerable O'Callahan moving into action and whittling down the incredibly sturdy mechs of the Frosty Meteors one by one, as well as the sacrificial mobbing tactic employed by the Vandals at the end, they might have never been able to survive their escape from the Vesia Kingdom!
The Flagrant Vandals didn't survive this disastrous crisis unscatched. Half of their spaceborn mech pilots lost their lives and even more mechs got wrecked or sustained heavy damage. If not for their subsequent recovery at the Harkensen System, the spaceborn mech contingent of the Flagrant Vandals would have never been able to stand up on their own two feet again!
This story contained a strong emotional attachment to Ves. Yet would it be appropriate for him to use the events of this battle as the basis of his fourth original mech design?
Ves shook his head. "We beat the enemy, but lost almost just as much. A pyrrhic victory is not a victory to be proud of. Besides, the enemy earned all of the glory for their bold and enduring approach."
The Vandals only won that battle because they outnumbered the small detachment of Frosty Meteors and made use of that advantage in the stupidest and most destructive way possible.
He discarded this battle and tried to come up with other memories that cast a better on his experiences.
After fifteen minutes of daydreaming, he suddenly sat up straight in his chair. "Of course! When it comes to showcasing the power of defense, how can I forget about that big lovable lizard!"
The misguided attack of the Sacred Gods of the Eastern Samar Pantheon on the ground forces of the Flagrant Vandals nearly wiped out the latter.
Nobody from the Vandals including Ves ever expected Qilanxo's incredibly strong space barrier to be able to withstand a half a mech regiment's worth of ranged bombardment!
In the end, the Flagrant Vandals cheated and dropped a couple of overloaded power reactors that blew up with the force of a tactical nuclear weapon to overload that ridiculously resilient and enduring space barrier!
Witnessing such an amazing capacity from a primitive exobeast instead of some highly advanced device from the CFA left a strong impression in his mind. Ves' eyes lit up as he realized that this event might serve as a good base for his vision for his space knight!
Even though Qilanxo was a land exobeast and the battle happened firmly on heavy gravity soil, it was the spirit that counted. Ves wanted to draw upon the impression of invincibility and defensive supremacy displayed by the mighty Qilanxo.
Best of all, unlike the earlier example, Ves and the Flagrant Vandals eventually made up with Qilanxo.
How strong would his space knight design become if he became inspired by her example?
"It's not possible for me to implement an actual space barrier as a defensive measure for my upcoming space knight design." Ves conceded.
However, what kind of effect would Ves be able to achieve when he incorporated such a strong phenomenon in the imaginary realm?
Chapter 1036
An inspired mood struck Ves. This was it! This was the magical moment he sought when he decided to design his fourth original mech!
What was his strongest asset? His imagination!
Yet his imagination was only as good as the inspiration that fueled it. Without material to work with, his imagination would only be able to produce generic and listless visions for his next designs.
Perhaps the greatest benefit Ves derived from the System was that it enabled him to boost his lackluster Creativity Attribute into superhuman territory!
Even so, his Creativity often led Ves to conjure up garbage in his mind. Without any material to work with, it often pumped out ideas and thoughts with little basis in reality. The constant questioning also led him into bouts of suspicion and paranoia from time to time.
In other words, having an overactive imagination didn't always help him out. Yet these blemishes did not hinder him from enjoying the greatest benefit of possessing a high Creativity Attribute.
Once he became inspired, his ability to create became supercharged!
In the next half hour, Ves ran with the idea of using Qilanxo as an inspiration for his space knight. His mind elevated into a higher level of activity as he envisioned various events that he witnessed in the past.
Qilanxo's incredibly powerful space barrier.
Qilanxo calling down an energy tornado to fill up her god crystals.
Qilanxo interacting with Ves through her roars.
Qilanxo bonding with Orfan and Dise for the very first time.
Qilanxo stabilizing the surrounding space in the middle of the collapsing Starlight Megalodon.
Qilanxo's ability to maintain a bond between herself, Orfan and Dise even when they were separated in space.
All of these incidents added to Qilanxo's mystique. Ves even came up with the bold idea of outright using the Sacred God or at least a representation of her in his mind as the totem animal for his next design!
Ves paused at that moment. "Is Qilanxo still alive? Will my shenanigans affect her in some way if she is still around somewhere on that planet?"
As far as he knew, the few instances he drew on real entities to construct his visions, he always chose dead people as his base.
He wondered what happened to Aeon Corona VII when he and a handful of others escaped that heavy gravity planet. Did Sigrund wipe out every living being on the planet? Or did he depart in haste, leaving most of the god species and genetically-modified descendants of the original crew alive?
"That might very well be possible."
What happened next was anyone's guess. Perhaps some other sandmen fleets dispatched from the neighboring star system arrived and wiped out all life on the planet anyway. Perhaps the CFA sent out a war fleet that arrived in time to secure the planet and its inhabitants and were studying them even at this moment! Qilanxo could be stuck in some kind of CFA lab cage for all he knew.
The implications regarding the existence of the god species, the blessed people and the cursed people were very significant. Ves lamented that he hadn't been able to retrieve the files for Project Icarus and abscond them for his own use. If only that ominous mainframe hadn't been subverted by Sigrund.
The uncertainty surrounding Qilanxo's current state cast a shadow of doubt over his intention to use her as his inspiration.
Still, an important question came up during his deliberations.
"So what? So what if I make use of a living entity? Will that even be detrimental to the mech?"
Ves came up with a daring notion that using someone or something alive might in fact lead to a stronger effect on the X-Factor of a mech!
Although it seemed somewhat reckless to test this hypothesis on a pivotal project in his career, designing mechs was all about innovating and taking risks. His intuition sent some encouraging signs to him, which convinced him that he was on to something good with his current train of thought.
This was worth experimenting on! The high stakes involved with making his fourth original design a great success increased the pressure on him. The extra pressure made sure he put in his best effort possible in trying to leverage this new variable to his advantage!
The question that now occurred in his mind was how he should shape his vision in response to this determination. Usually, Ves outlined the basic parameters of his envisioned mech before he moved on to creating images to constitute its spiritual identity.
Right now, Ves was working the other way around. He already created one component of his design's spiritual identity, limiting his options and constraining his range of possible mech concepts.
He needed to define his concept for his space knight design by starting from Qilanxo.
Her most defining trait was her space barrier. Could Ves adapt something similar to his space knight?
"Active defenses like that do exist." Ves rubbed his chin. "The only problem is that these systems are too expensive and advanced."
Energy screens, the most predominant form of energy defense technology in the Komodo Star Sector, required large machines and huge energy cells to sustain. They were very poor in energy efficiency and were only really used to shield buildings and mech arenas from collateral damage. They didn't last long when mechs pounded their surface.
There was a good reason why third-class mechs did not make use of energy screen tech.
"Still, there's more ways to cook an egg. Standard energy screen tech is just one of many flavors. There are many other shielding techs available to mech designers. They're just not as well-known and come with other difficulties."
Ves could not come up with something right now and planned to bring this topic up with Professor Ventag. Even if the Senior didn't have a convenient license on hand, it was no major disaster.
Images didn't need to conform to their mech designs in a literal sense. Just because Qilanxo possessed the power to conjure up a space barrier didn't necessarily mean that Ves needed to include that function in his space knight design.
The totem animal component in the Triple Division technique first and foremost provided the X-Factor of a mech with animal instincts and reflexes.
Back when Ves designed the Blackbeak, the principal image for his first original mech design was a black phoenix. Using this specific image shaped the overall aggressiveness and aesthetic appearance of his Blackbeak design.
It did not make his mech into a literal phoenix-like entity that magically rebirthed itself once it got wrecked!
Still, now that he thought about it, Ves wondered if this deficiency affected the overall strength of the X-Factor for his design. Was this a reason why his X-Factor hadn't been able to score higher despite all the effort he put into its development?
Ves came up with another hypothesis. The closer a mech design adhered to the traits and abilities of an image, the greater the effect of its X-Factor!
"There is so much more about this field that I haven't delved into yet." He sighed. "I've developed so many new hypotheses, and this is just my fourth original mech design project!"
He enjoyed exploring the unknown. From his exposure to Seniors, he already knew that they constantly pushed the envelope regarding what they knew in a particular field with their designs.
His excitement grew as he basked in the spirit of innovation. Sure, he might be engaging in some reckless gambles by testing his hypothesis in a critical design project instead of an inconsequential virtual design, but he would not regret it very much even if he failed in these aspects and the X-Factor for his mech ended up weaker.
"It's just something intangible anyway. Its presence or absence won't affect the performance specs of my mech all that much."
As far as Ves was aware of, the X-Factor purely exerted itself by influencing the mind of the mech pilot over the man-machine connection.
In other words, it was all in the mind.
If Ves managed to pull off his new ideas correctly, then the positive influence on the mech pilots piloting copies of his space knight design increased. This would definitely boost their performance by a small degree and lead to higher customer satisfaction.
The more a mech satisfied the mech pilot, the higher the chance of repeat business. Satisfying customers was one of the most basic techniques to get them to return and purchase another product from the same brand.
However, even if Ves somehow botched the X-Factor up, it wouldn't do much harm as his mech model would be no different from all the other models in the market. With almost no one in the market except for himself aware of how to strengthen and shape the X-Factor of a mech, Ves practically held a monopoly on this feature even if nobody was really aware of what he possessed.
Therefore, while he would certainly feel disappointed if he failed in boosting the X-Factor, he wouldn't shed any tears over it. Innovation was always like that. Success followed after countless failed experiments paved the way.
"I should get back to the concept of my space knight."
He imagined Qilanxo's giant form and drew out other traits from her existence.
"Qilanxo is big. Very big. She's strong as well."
Ves gained the notion of designing a heavy mech instead of a medium mech, but he immediately discarded the possibility. Unlike Patricia, he hadn't been groomed to design such difficult designs. He already ventured into new terrain by entering the domain of spaceborn mechs. He felt no desire to complicate matters even further by designing a heavy mech.
"Besides, heavy mechs are rarely sold in the public mech markets. They're usually designed within the military and are almost exclusively used by well-funded military mech forces."
He settled on designing a big, fat defensive space knight that pushed against the boundary of the medium weight class.
Unlike the Blackbeak which he endeavored on preserving some of its mobility in order to facilitate its use as an offensive mech, his next design would be purely focused on defense.
It didn't need to be too fast. Just fast enough to move around and cover for rifleman mechs.
Though a lumbering space knight would never be able to keep up with the movements of a smaller and nimbler rifleman mech, they didn't need to. Most rifleman mechs zigged and zagged in every direction in order to dodge enemy fire. Their effective traversal in a given direction was usually a lot less than the actual distance they covered.
It was like comparing a squiggly line with a straight line. As long as the mech pilots of the rifleman mechs and space knights coordinated with each other, they could insure they matched the distance they traversed despite adopting wildly different speeds.
However, designing such a slow and cumbersome mech did come with plenty of downsides. Its tactical uses were severely limited as they lacked the mobility to accelerate swiftly enough to accompany mechs on attack runs.
This was fine to Ves. He merely had to make sure it performed its core functions well enough. Mechs didn't need to be good in everything in order to fit in well with the mech roster of an outfit.
Ves still felt that something was missing from the picture. What distinguished his space knight design from other designs?
"If I don't offer anything different or better, there is no grounds for us to charge a high product margin on my new mech."
The market wasn't that gullible. Ves frowned as he tried to figure out how to shape the narrative of his mech design to offer a compelling unique selling proposition.
This was the key to distinguishing his product in the market! Merely relying on the name and brand of NORA Consolidated wasn't good enough if he wanted the joint project to succeed in two successive mech generations.
"It has to offer supreme defense, but how can I do this?"
Chapter 1037
The problem on how to design a space knight that offered very strong means of defense haunted Ves a bit. It became an obstacle in his design process that he couldn't overcome unless he formed a good solution to address the problem.
"This is a hardware issue. I'll have to ask for a list of component licenses from Professor Ventag. Since he's a Senior, he must have hundreds of good mech parts at his disposal at the very least."
Unlike some other Seniors, Professor Ventag didn't design any core components in-house. If he did design something, it would be purely something small and for internal use only. Ves never heard of NORA Consolidated publishing any notable component designs such as power reactors of mech engines.
This reflected a difference in style and ideology. Some mech designers believed the correct way forward was to take an increasing amount of control over what was being put into the design of a mech. They wouldn't rest until every part of a mech was designed in-house!
Other mech designers believed that diverting their attention to designing individual components missed the point about their profession. It wasn't their job to develop individual parts. Specialist developers already concentrated on that job.
To these design purists, the core role of a mech designer was to take a collection of individual mech parts and put them together in a single cohesive design that maximized their synergies and minimized their incompatibilities.
The fight between the so-called pure design and single origin ideologies raged on ever since mech designers first emerged. The single origin ideology was the predominant belief in the early days of the Age of Mechs.
After all, not a lot of specialists published good components designs back then. The infrastructure surrounding the core mech industry was still in its infancy. Therefore, mech designers often resorted to designing their own components for their mechs by necessity.
It was a given that the results were rather mixed.
A mech designer excelled in designing mechs. As for designing individual components, they only became good enough at this job when they put in the effort. However, this was not always a bad idea as they spent far too much time on distractions and not enough on their core function, which was designing mechs!
The only instance where developing individual component designs was appropriate was when these specific components formed a core part of their design philosophy. For example, Ves did not criticize Master Olson and Oleg's preoccupation with designing mech engines because they formed such a critical aspect to their overall design philosophies geared towards longevity and endurance.
After a few hundred years of continued evolution within the mech industry, the pure design ideology gained strength. It advocated for an increased emphasis on division of roles. Why should a mech designer be bothered to design their own components and thereby slow down their own advancement when they could just as well leave the job to others?
As the Age of Mechs gained steam and mechs became ever more ubiquitous, so did the demand for good mech components increased. An industry that revolved around designing mech components for licensing emerged ever since the MTA implemented the current licensing system.
The competition in the market for component licenses was just as brutal as the competition in the mech market! This competition forced developers to continue to improve and innovate on the components they offered to mech designers, thereby ensuring they delivered better results than any mech designer who dabbled in this area.
These days, which mech designer adhered to which ideology depended heavily on their education, upbringing, chosen design philosophy and their learning ability. Some schools advocated for the single origin ideology, while others propagated the pure design ideology.
It was much more rewarding for mech designers to design their own components. Yet if they weren't any good at it or derived too little benefit from this distraction, they shouldn't bother.
Ves did not possess a strong inclination for one ideology over another. They both had their good points. As far as he was aware of, a lot of higher-ranking mech designers did just fine by focusing on developing one or two components that played a strong role in their designs while making use of component licenses to fill up the rest.
When Ves approached Professor Ventag just before the fleet's arrival to the Harkensen System, he received a skeptical response.
"A defensive space knight is as standard as it gets when it comes to that archetype." Professor Ventag frowned. "Are you not aware that you are making it difficult on yourself to develop a good unique selling proposition for your design?"
"I shouldn't be the first mech designer who came up with the idea in the Bright Republic."
"You just described the lack of feasibility with trying to implement modern energy screen technology into mechs. Not only would they be forced to carry around a bulky module responsible for generating the energy screens, but they don't offer enough protection against damage to make your space knight practical."
"There ought to be better shielding tech available, right?"
"There are, Ves." Professor Ventag nodded. "However, all of them come with various limitations and restrictions. They sometimes pop up in custom second-class mechs in the Friday Coalition, but you can forget about it if you want to design a third-class mech for third-rate states. It's too unaffordable."
Ves encountered his first major setback. It seemed his dream of squaring the circle by somehow incorporating some form of shielding tech into his design fell through. His space knight wouldn't be able to emulate Qilanxo's space barrier functionality anytime soon.
The professor suddenly smiled at the younger mech designer. "All hope is not lost. There are other alternatives at our disposal. They just aren't as good as genuine shields and energy screens. For example, the most practical suggestion I can offer is polarizing technology. Are you familiar with this tech?"
"I've heard of it." Ves said with a hopeful tone. "It's not exactly accessible to ordinary mech designers, though."
"Not to worry. I do possess a license for a mech part that can polarize certain sections of a mech. However, a polarizing generator comes with severe drawbacks. Not only are they energy hungry, they're also relatively bulky. They don't take up as much volume as an energy screen generator, but you'll have to make many compromises if you wish to fit the possibility to polarize a portion of the mech frame in your design."
"Please afford me access to the design specifications of your polarizing generator license." Ves requested.
Professor Ventag activated his comm and transferred some files to Ves' comm. In the meantime, he described the underlying technology in further detail.
"Polarizing tech is a catch-all term for methods run armor plating or any solid surface for that matter with an electromagnetic field. This field offers a layer of protection to the surface against certain types of damage. It's most effective against energy damage such as lasers, but some applications of polarizing technology also makes them fairly decent against physical damage."
"It's fairly prevalent in second-class mechs, right?"
"Correct." Professor Ventag nodded. "Not all mechs from the Friday Coalition makes use of polarizing tech. They have the same considerations for this tech as we do with the decision to implement compressed armor in our third-class mechs. It's not cost-effective to employ them in cheaper mechs."
The professor indirectly informed Ves of a major flaw in his plan to make use of polarizing tech.
"If the Friday Coalition finds it inefficient, then it's even more of a pipedream for me to apply this tech to my space knight!"
The Senior shook his head. "All hope is not lost, Ves. I'm not deliberately leading you into a pit. The component specifications I just sent you described a polarizing generator that is cheaper and weaker than the ones employed by second-class mechs. While the effect is subsequently weaker to the point of being ignored by the mech designers of the Friday Coalition, it might play a useful role as long as its applied correct. What most mech designers consider inefficient can nonetheless be a valuable addition to mechs that operate on a different paradigm."
That was easier said than done. Ves already received the professor's message that he shouldn't expect too much from the component license for a polarizing generator.
Ves left the mech workshop and left the professor to his own work.
Seeing that Professor Ventag failed to offer him a good solution to this problem, Ves considered whether he should draw on his other connections to find an answer. Perhaps it was time for him to return to the Clifford Society and see if he could exchange his merits for something good.
"Even so, I don't think it's going to be that easy." He shook his head. "Polarizing tech would have been a lot more prevalent in the Bright Republic if it is practical enough for use in regular mechs."
RIght now, Ves was prepared to mull over this issue. While adding some form of active defenses wasn't critical to his space knight design, he felt he would do Qilanxo a disservice by omitting this function.
How could his space knight embody Qilanxo's excellent in defense without a representation of her nigh-invincible space barrier?
Ves encountered an unfortunate problem plaguing many mech designers throughout the galaxy! Practicality failed to keep up with his ambitions!
A lot of people wanted to own a CFA battleship and shoot everything in their way to pieces. That didn't mean that all of those people actually got to realize their dreams. Unless they managed to get accepted into the CFA and promote their way up the hierarchy, they could forget about captaining their own battleship.
Even then, the captains and admirals of the CFA couldn't employ their battleships willy-nilly and shoot whoever they wanted to without an enormous pile of rules and regulations standing in their way.
Right now, Ves became enamored with the idea of offering some form of active defenses on his mech, but all of the possibilities mentioned so far turned it into a very bad idea.
As Ves studied the details of Professor Ventag's component license, he immediately realized its main limitation.
"This license describes a polarizing generator for a heavy mech!"
The design for the generator did its best to minimize its mass and volume, but even then it took up as much space if not more than the heavy-duty antigrav backpacks procured by the Vandals to keep their mechs running on Aeon Corona VII.
That might not sound so bad, but the main issue was that existing spaceborn mechs all carried an integrated backpack module in the form of their flight systems!
"Maybe I should just layer them after another." Ves considered.
It wasn't unheard of to stack two backpack module-like components together. However, this led to unwieldy mechs with a very deep torso that bulged backwards, affecting the center of gravity and increasing their propensity to fall.
This was a bit less of a concern for spaceborn mechs, but even so it massively amplified the weak points of a space knight. Any enemy that managed to reach the rear would be able to inflict crippling damage to the mech! Such an easy vulnerability defeated the purpose of offering a defensive space knight.
"There shouldn't be too many compromises involved with the defensive capabilities of my design." He declared.
This problem haunted him for so long that the fleet finally transitioned into the Harkensen System before he knew it. The Tovar Peace Delegation successfully reached their destination, though not without suffering some losses!
As Ves accessed a local plot of the system, he found it to be as boisterous as his first visit to this Reinaldan star system.
Many shady outfits and outright pirate gangs frequented Harkensen III to unload their ill-gotten gains. They subsequently used the proceeds to procure new mechs, ships and supplies.
The outfits also deposited their crews on Harkensen I for some much-needed shore leave. The large-scale attacks the resort planet suffered a couple of years ago had already faded after the Reinald Republic made a concerted effort to repair the damage and promote it as an excellent vacation destination.
Ves smiled cynically at the high amount of traffic running through Harkensen I's orbit. To someone who lived through the devastation that wracked Harkensen I's surface, he found the sight to be surreal.
"People have such short memories."
Chapter 1038
As inspection corvettes from the Honored Ones arrived to search the new arrivals for threats, Ves met up with Lord Javier again in the lounge.
Lord Javier grinned at Ves. "This is it, buddy. Soon, you'll get to meet other Vesians besides me. I hope there are lots of Imodrissians among the Vesian delegation."
"Will there be?" Ves wondered. "I heard that a prince of the royal family will head the Vesian delegation. Won't they all come from the Royal Territory in the center of the Kingdom?"
"Sure, but the Royal Territory isn't as rich and powerful as the individual duchies." Javier explained. "There's only so much resources and manpower the Royal House of Vesia can draw upon within the only territory they control directly. It's a capital territory in isolation."
His remark emphasized the weak position of the Royal House of Vesia. The ducal houses who carved out the majority of the Vesia Kingdom's territories for themselves did their best to suppress the royals and their ambitions to rein in the largely unchecked nobility.
"If the Royal House is so weak, why is Senator Tovar negotiating with them in the first place?"
"If not the royals, who else?" Javier shrugged with a smile. "If they negotiate with one of the duchies, the other duchies would never accept that they upheld the interests of the entire state. Negotiating with all of the duchies at once is unfeasible. Not only would the peace talks become mired with infighting and irreconcilable differences of opinion, it also risks exposing the peace talks before they're ready to go public."
All of those arguments made sense to Ves. "So even though the royals are weak, that's also an asset to them because the duchies aren't afraid of them. At the very least, they are useful tools whenever the Kingdom needs to forge a consensus."
Diplomacy was one of the few areas where the various Vesian noble influences left to the royals. It would be far too chaotic and downright catastrophic if every single duchy of the Vesia Kingdom pursued their own diplomacy. By allowing the weak Royal House of Vesia to take charge of this domain while simultaneously supervising every deal they negotiated, the duchies would not be forced to reject any proposed treaty just because their rivals presented it first.
"Have you heard which royal prince has agreed to represent the Vesia Kingdom in the upcoming peace talks?"
Lord Javier nodded. "Senator Tovar filled me in. The leader of the Vesian delegation is Prince Colchester. He's nearly as old as the senator at around 230 years old if I recall."
Ves hadn't heard of Prince Colchestor before. Then again, he never needed to learn about the members of the Vesian royal family when he studied mech design.
"What is Prince Colchester known for in your circles?"
"Prince Colly is a bit of a boring member of the royal house." Lord Javier snorted with contempt. "He's not a mech pilot and never even bothered to serve in the Mech Legion. Instead, I heard he's highly respected in the field of economics. He used to an economic planner who took part in huge decisions that affected the economy of the entire kingdom. I also heard that he's a bit conservative and restrained in many political matters."
"How so?"
"For example, Prince Colly is a big proponent of solidifying the class system. He thinks too many commoners are elevated into the nobility and he thinks it's ridiculous that its too easy for the aristocracy to lose their status after going through a tough time."
Ves smirked. "I think his own interests and the interests of the royal house plays a large part in his standpoint on this issue."
"The old prince also thinks we should scale back the intensity of our wars against the Bright Republic because the losses we've suffered are very heavy. He isn't making a lot of friends with that extreme opinion."
Only in a warmongering state like the Vesia Kingdom would moderation and restraint be considered extreme, Ves thought.
"So a prince like that is leading the Vesian delegation?"
"He's the most peace-loving idiot among the princes of the royal house. He doesn't have much credibility with the supporters of the war within the Kingdom, but as long as his entire house backs him up, he might stand a decent chance of smacking the duchies back into sanity."
While Ves doubted that the weak royal house could convince the duchies of stopping the war, Prince Colchester might surprise him, even if Lord Javier didn't think much of the old royal.
The fact that Lord Javier didn't bother to address the prince as 'his highness' or the like reflected the Vesian lack of respect for the royal family. Granted, they often skipped such styles of addressing each other except in formal circumstances.
Also, Ves doubted that Prince Colchester would like it if someone called him Prince Colly in his face!
"Is there any other advice you can give me before we land and attend the opening banquet?" Ves asked.
As a hostage, Lord Javier wouldn't be present at the first formal introduction between the two delegations. In fact, he wouldn't be showing up much at all in order to control how much he gave away to his fellow Vesians.
"You're a bigger deal than you realize, Ves." Lord Javier said seriously. "Try and flaunt the fact that you're Senator Tovar and Professor Ventag's pet."
Ves immediately frowned at such a ridiculous response. "Pardon?!"
Lord Javier just grinned in response. "I purposefully call you a pet, because that's what you are to them. A useful puppy that barks whenever they praise you and fetches the sticks they throw out. Don't feel insulted, Ves. In this setting, it's an advantage. The Vesians you'll meet during the peace talks are all nobles and elites that Prince Colly finds worthy enough to be a part of his delegation. They're mostly going to be older men and women just like the ones who are part of your own delegation. It's impossible for you to earn their respect on your own. However, as long as you're shameless enough, I think you'll be able to get in their good books by using the name of a renowned senator and Senior Mech Designer."
Even though Ves felt somewhat affronted at the thought of purposefully taking advantage of someone else's names and reputation, it did describe his current status somewhat accurately.
Ves reminded himself of Flashlight's tenets. It didn't matter what method he used as long as he fulfilled the mission. Right now, Senator Tovar expected him to make a favorable impression on the Vesians with his medals and war exploits and befriend at least some of them in the process.
"I hope you're not completely right and that they brought younger Vesians along as well." He said.
As Ves received some last-minute advice from Lord Javier, the fleet slowly made its way to Harkensen II. It took some days for the fleet to reach the administrative planet's orbit as the Honored Ones increased their scrutiny to any ships or fleets crossing into the restricted zone around the second planet from the local star.
If anything, Ves felt much more reassured that the Honored Ones prevented never-do-wells from smuggling dangerous weapons and mechs to the surface of Harkensen II. The fiasco that Ves endured on Harkensen I a few years ago should not be making a repeat on this strictly-governed planet.
After a long period of inspections, identity verification and signing documents, a series of shuttles dispatched by the Reinaldans all brought them down to the surface of Harkensen II.
Only Senator Tovar and his aides were spared from riding Reinaldan shuttles. The senator received a waiver from the authorities to make use of his personal shuttle to make landfall.
Rank hath its privileges.
The general atmosphere at the spaceport at the outskirts of Ernos, the capital city, reminded Ves of Rittersberg. Lots of precisely-shaped greenery blended in harmoniously with predominantly white structures. This classic look granted Harkensen II the impression of an idyllic paradise.
In order to maintain the secrecy of the peace talks, the members of the Tovar Peace Delegation remained separate from the public. Their Reinaldan escorts from restricted area to restricted area before leading them to armored shuttles that brought them away from Ernos.
The capital city was too important and too highly-populated to conduct the peace talks. The Reinaldans along with the two parties instead decided to hold the peace talks at Kester Hills, a small settlement known for its bountiful nature and relaxing sites.
The fact that it was small and lightly-populated meant that it was easy to control its population. In fact, the Reinaldans temporarily relocated its citizens and stationed a robust amount of Honored Ones to ensure the security of the peace talks.
Ves still wondered why the Reinaldans played along in the first place. Shouldn't they be glad that the Brighters and Vesians continued to slug it out against each other?
He was not naive enough to believe the Reinaldans became convinced by Senator Tovar's claims that a greater threat might be coming.
Well, such concerns weren't very relevant to him. Senator Tovar had a good reason to agree with holding peace talks in the Reinald Republic.
As the armored shuttle landed in the landing zone of an expansive and luxurious-looking estate, the Reinaldans retreated their people and let the Brighters sort themselves out at their new abode. The Tovar Peace Delegation's staff immediately went to work. They inspected the main compound and inspected them for bugs and listening devices.
It was probably a guarantee that the Reinaldans snuck in loads of spying devices in the compound.
After a short moment, Secretary Lowe came up to Ves. "Mr. Larkinson, your quarters have been prepared. Please follow after me. We'll need to prepare you for the upcoming banquet tonight."
The diplomatic aide led Ves into the compound before reaching a residential section that offered hotel-like room to the guests.
As they entered one of them, Ves saw that his luggage had already been delivered. Secretary Lowe immediately walked up to the main closet and drew out a cross between a service dress uniform and a formal black tie dining outfit.
"What in the galaxy is this abomination?" Ves asked with irritation.
"It's your mess dress uniform." Lowe smiled. "It's also what you will be wearing for tonight."
A row of resplendent-looking medals had already been pinned to the front of the uniform. Obviously, ribbons wouldn't cut it for such a formal occasion.
The main reason why Ves felt repelled by the uniform was that it included an excessive amount of golden frills and lacing. It was as if the designer of the uniform was afraid that the person who wore it wouldn't be able to draw attention!
Secretary Lowe noticed Ves' discomfort. "It's not an embarrassment to wear this uniform. Mind you, many of your peers will wear much more impressive-looking outfits. The only distinguishing feature that stands out in your case are your medals. Many Vesians are quite well-versed in recognizing awards issued by the Mech Corps. With any luck, they will quickly come to learn that you are a war hero."
"It sounds like it's really important to hit that home."
"First impressions are critical. Considering the high stakes of these peace talks, we need every advantage that we can get. Therefore, the senator hopes that you will exert your best efforts in representing the Bright Republic in front of our Vesian counterparts. Your actions tonight will not only reflect on yourself, but also your patrons as well as your state. Do you understand?"
Ves nodded seriously. If the basic message was that if he screwed up somehow, he would be dragging down the reputation of Senator Tovar and the Bright Republic. Such a disaster would weaken their bargaining position.
"Don't worry Ves." Secretary Lowe patted his shoulder in reassurance. "You're a junior member of the delegation so you'll be sitting far away from the center where most of the attention will be drawn. Even if you poke your nose, the Vesians won't care."
Somehow, that didn't sound very reassuring at all to Ves. "I'll be sure to avoid poking my nose during the upcoming occasion."
Chapter 1039
The venue of the opening banquet took place in a majestic dining hall. Kester Hills was no stranger in providing service to members of high society, so the dining hall looked quite resplendent. The marble stonework and titanium-golden metalwork had all been fashioned into a clean and modern style that nevertheless did not become too abstract.
The design of the dining hall with its emphasis on space and geometric shapes provided a suitable backdrop for the guests to take the stage.
Every member of the Tovar Peace Delegation arrived in some of the best clothing that the senator's staff provided to each of them. Ves milled around in the periphery of Colonel Xelven and the other military officers.
All of them wore similar mess dress uniforms. The senior officers boasted much higher numbers of medals, badges and other awards.
If Ves was afraid he'd be overshadowed by the flood of decorations from the careerist military officers, he shouldn't have been worried. Some might carry a Torchbearer, others a Darkness Eater, but absolutely no one carried both at once! The extremely rare Golden Mech further signified that he was a mech designer, not a mech pilot!
His top awards had been designed to call out attention with the incorporation of shiny exotics and luminescent materials designed to simulate fire and light. The Golden Mech in particular caught a lot of attention due to its relative size and gaudiness.
The eleclic combination of medals already drew the attention of the other old men and women of the Tovar Peace Delegation. They had seen him walk around on the Felicitous Remembrance and the Lormant Carnival, but were not quite aware of what his ribbons on his service uniform represented back then. Now they realized that Ves may be more that met the eye.
Of course, Ves did not particularly care about impressing his fellow Brighters at this time. Instead, he along with everyone else faced the Colchester Peace Delegation.
As the formal introduction rituals went underway, Ves studied his opposites.
The first thing that struck him was that they made for an imposing image. A higher proportion of military officers made up their ranks. Some of the bureaucrats, statesmen, businessmen and even academics also carried the same air as their soldiers, signifying that they once served in the military as well!
The Vesians also seemed to group up amongst themselves. Unlike the Brighters who stood in a single, uniform row with equal spacing between them, the Vesians vaguely bunched up a bit into a handful of separate cliques.
Only a small number of them appeared to be the core confidants of Prince Colchester. The rest hailed from different duchies who distrusted those from other duchies.
Ves guessed that this continued division would complicate the peace talks once they finally commenced.
Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester both stood in the middle of their ranks. At some unspoken signal, they both walked forward until they arrived right in front of each other.
They studied each other.
Both old men experienced more than two centuries in their lives, and would live at least a century more. The vicissitudes of living all of those years reflected in their faces and their posture. They were no average humans in the galaxy. They were born from privileged families and had been groomed to lead their respective states since young.
Looking far away from the center, Ves became struck with the notion that they were the same kind of men. Both of them were leaders and both of them were old. That gave them something in common that none of the other members of their delegations could ever come close to matching!
"Prince Colchester."
"Senator Tovar."
They shook hands and smiled in diplomatic fashions. None of their true thoughts could be discerned as they tried to read each other's expressions and body language.
Eventually, they separated and led their delegations to the lengthy but narrow dining tables.
A band began to play soft music while staff started to bring in appetizers. However, no one focused on the food and drink and instead stared at the opposite side of the narrow tables where their Vesian counterparts took seats.
Ves sat a long line down the table for military officers and officials. Lieutenant Colonel Xelven sat at the head of the table and already started to swap some casual stories with a noble officer from the Mech Legion.
Everyone's ranks, seniority and age descended further down the table until only mere captains sat at the other end.
For various reasons, Ves sat at the other end of the table. The officer who sat next to him might be a mere mech captain, but he was at least twenty years older and of a very different breed from the more casual and approachable Vandals.
Ves instead turned his attention back to the Vesian military officers. He glanced at each member of the Mech Legion, trying to see if he recognized any of them, all the way until he came at the end where he met a pair of burning eyes that tried to poke holes at him for some reason!
He blinked.
He stared at the face surrounding those eyes and belatedly realized he knew this woman!
"Venerable Foster! How can you be here?!" He asked with a somewhat alarmed tone.
He probably made a faux pas somewhere but his shock had overridden his senses!
The blond woman in front of him narrowed her eyes. "My apologies for disappointing your expectations, Mr. Larkinson. It seems we both survived our missions. It's very strange what happened to the vessel back then. I almost didn't make it out. Yet strangely enough I find you here. Out of the handful of people who survived the disaster back then, how can a puny mech designer like you possibly make it out unscathed? Did you have something to do with it perhaps?"
Ves laughed a little awkwardly, sweat already starting to pour down his brow. "I am not at liberty to discuss any details, let alone with a Vesian like you. Please mind our surroundings."
They were in a very public setting right now. Even if Ves received permission to discuss the details of the Aeon Corona Mission, he would never divulge any details to Venerable Foster just to satisfy his curiosity.
She was the enemy!
The other military officers noticed the tense dynamic between the two. They couldn't quite figure out why even though they shared some traits in common. One was a decorated mech designer. The other was a decorated expert pilot. Both of them were roughly from the same generation and were younger than most members of their delegations.
Ves felt increasingly pressured as Venerable Foster brought more and more of her ire to bear on him. His Spirituality felt discomfited by her strong will. She was likely imagining killing him or something.
As the waiters delivered the dishes and drew back, some of the guests began to dig in. Ves immediately started to eat some sort of salad pâté made out of important exobeast liver to avoid her attention.
Unfortunately, Venerable Foster was just as capable of maintaining her acid gaze on Ves as she sampled the delicacies.
"If you think you can avoid me, Mr. Larkinson, think again."
There was something about her voice that forced Ves to look up to her again. Ves was vaguely aware that Venerable Foster must be unconsciously manipulating her very real spirituality in this manner. It was how expert pilots commanded attention and obedience from their lessers. He already experienced this effect from Venerable Xie, but only to a lesser degree.
However, compared to that weak expert pilot, Venerable Foster's will was much more pure and concentrated! Whenever she spoke, Ves pretty much felt her intentions and attitude. She was not the sort of person who camouflaged the meaning of her words or engaged in doublespeak.
She spoke bluntly and directly with no ambiguity. She was a woman who knew what she wanted, and that empowered her will into some sort of mental force field that aligned in the same cohesive directions like an electromagnetic field!
It was as if a contest of wills took place in a realm invisible to everyone but Ves. Perhaps because he possessed a tangle form of Spirituality, he was actually more susceptible to this effect than a norm. He actively concentrated his mind in order to shield his Spirituality against submitting to her will.
Perhaps Venerable Foster noticed something about him, because she eased up on her invisible assault. "Looks like you're not a big of a wimp as you pretended to be back then. The Mech Corps isn't in the habit of awarding those medals of yours to wimps."
Ves smiled back in a strained fashion. Even if she became a bit more amiable for the moment, there was no doubt that she would rather stick a dagger in his stomach.
"How come you are a part of Prince Colchester's delegation?"
"Who says I can't represent both the Vesia Kingdom and the Hafner Duchy?" She replied mockingly as the next courses arrived. "I was introduced to the royal family through Lady Amalia of Imodris. Even though I love the Hafner Duchy and always consider it my home, expert pilots like myself ought to stand up for more than their own tribes."
Some of the Vesian officers sitting close by looked askance at her. It seemed her opinion did not play well with her colleagues in the Mech Legion. She showed no hint of reproach in her opinion, though. Even though she was still a mere mech captain, as a baroness and expert pilot she could damn say nearly whatever she wanted without repercussion!
This was the privilege of strength in a state which worshipped it to a much greater degree than the Bright Republic!
"What is your stance on the possibility of peace between our states?" He asked.
"Naturally, I support Prince Colchester's endeavors." She stated confidently. "Even though I would like nothing but to vanquish the Mech Corps and overrun your entire state along with any other loyal Vesian, as a guardian of the Kingdom I must take a wider perspective. Make no mistake, Brighter. The wars between our states will never end. Yet I also believe it shouldn't be a problem to put an extended pause in our conflict if it's necessary. Once we no longer have to be concerned about outside interference, we can immediately end our truce."
That was a very practical point of view, and the other officers near her couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Talk of permanently ending the conflict between their states was a bridge too far for most Vesians. Even the Brighters would feel uncomfortable. By phrasing the proposed peace as pressing the pause button, the two states would be able to maintain the stance that they remained hostile to their archenemies.
How long the proposed truce would last and whether both states would actually stick to its terms were still in question. The upcoming peace talks aimed to address these difficulties in order to see whether both sides could come to a reluctant accord that both states might be able to stomach.
The talk between the two became very stilted. While Ves and Venerable Foster both shared some of the same experiences and already knew each other, they both disliked each other intensity as well.
They just didn't have anyone else to talk with. Everyone else was older. Ves himself was a mech designer, which distinguished himself from the long-serving mech pilots and administrators. Venerable Foster in the meantime may be a highly respected expert pilot, but diplomacy did not come naturally to her. She never hid her animosity towards the Brighters and directly made her dislike for them known.
It was no surprise that the other Brighter officers did their best to ignore Venerable Foster's presence and engaged in conversation among their own peers.
As an unfortunate consequence of that, Venerable Foster kept turning her ire towards Ves throughout the banquet.
"You craven little mech designer. Don't look down at your food when I'm speaking to you. I won't let you get away for all the shenanigans you pulled off back then!"
Ves wanted to vomit blood. Why was she so fixated on him? What happened to her and the rest of the Vesian ground forces when Sigrund escaped from his cage?
Chapter 1040
That evening, Ves finally returned to his quarters in the compound assigned to the Tovar Peace Delegation. While his stomach was filled with sumptuous food, his mind felt distressingly empty.
It took every bit of concentration and attentiveness to resist Venerable Foster's scathing remarks and accusations.
As Ves sat on his bed, he tried to figure out how she came to be here. From her various remarks, he got the sense that while she and some of her fellow Vesian officers managed to escape from Aeon Corona VII alive and with their mission objective, much of the Vesian ground forces failed to extract in time.
"The Hostland Warriors and the Meandering Monkeys demand an account from you!" She burst out once during the conversation, unintentionally spilling some information that she shouldn't have among unrelated people.
Not that anyone would punish her for it. She was a young and promising expert pilot who also earned a lot of merit in the Mech Legion.
That made Ves wonder if the recipient of the lockbox they managed to acquire was Prince Colchestor.
"The prince still has at least seventy to a hundred years of life to go, but there's no harm in preparing for the future."
That might explain Venerable Foster's inclusion as a military attaché in the Prince's delegation.
Ves did not care too much which Vesian managed to enjoy an extended lifespan. Whether it was some duke or prince who enjoyed this privilege, what really mattered was how much recognition Venerable Foster received.
Evidently, she enjoyed a lot of favor. Despite her abrasive personality, Prince Colchester somehow saw fit to include her in his ranks. There must be multiple reasons why she was present here in Kester Hills.
"Are we really here to discuss peace talks, or is there more to these negotiations that they haven't told me?" Ves wondered.
Ves got the vague sense that Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester may be attempting to kill multiple birds with one stone. That seemed to be the modus operandi among the powerful and influential. They always aimed to fulfill multiple objectives at once.
The next day, the peace talks began in earnest. Both delegations sent representatives to make their opening moves. The talks took place at a formal conference chamber that offered large round tables, high ceilings with lots of light, and stuffy protocol that Ves didn't have the privilege to witness.
Only a handful of representatives from both sides met each other first so far. The conference chamber was closed off to every other person including Ves. Instead, he was expected to linger around at Kester Hills and strike up a conversation with some of the idle Vesian members of the delegation.
Ves had nothing in common with the Vesian dignitaries. It would be hard for him to approach them, especially since they were mostly at least as old as his parents. Both delegations mainly brought their powerhouses to the peace talks who were already familiar with the game.
"At least I'm out of yesterday's clown suit."
Now that everyone who served in the military showed off their decorations in full splendor, they returned to their more sober and business-like service dress uniforms.
The only exceptions to the rule had only been brought to the peace talks as afterthoughts. Neither Ves nor Venerable Foster became attachés of their respective delegations due to careful planning or strategic considerations.
Their patrons merely treated them like pets that they wanted to bring along in their holiday rather than leave them sad and alone in their homes. At least that was the sense that Ves constructed in his mind.
The lack of attention and expectation put on him also liberated him somewhat. Even if he sat down in the dirt and build sandcastles all day, no one would fault him very much.
However, Ves knew that doing nothing substantial would lower Senator Tovar's good impression on him. If he wanted to show that he remained an asset to the senator's circle, he needed to put some actual effort in his current assignment.
"Besides, what else can I do in this tiny retreat? There's hardly any entertainment out here."
Kester Hills normally served as a holiday retreat. The bountiful nature offered many opportunities for hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking and other primitive activities for overworked managers tired of being surrounded by technology all day.
Ves did have to admit that the locale gave a strong sense of peace and serenity to him. In fact, it reminded him of his native planet of Cloudy Curtain, except sunnier.
It was too bad that the Reinaldans relocated most of the workers facilitating those activities away for the duration of the peace talks. Kester Hills became an invisible prison to him, with guards dispatched by the Honored Ones imposing order in the halls and on the streets.
Some attachés already started to approach each other and engage in modest conversations. None of them lost their animosity towards each other, and not every conversation lasted long enough to forge some bonds.
Ves in the meantime switched his gaze back and forth between the gatherings of business magnates and military officers. Who should he approach first?
"It's too difficult to forge a business partnership between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom." He considered for a moment. "Even if some collaboration can be forged between our two states, it won't be the likes of me who will get involved."
Yet he couldn't just walk up to a high-ranking Vesian military officer and swap war stories with each other. Most of what he experienced in his short tour with the Mech Corps consisted of highly classified missions that couldn't be divulged to anyone, least of all a Vesian.
Most of the advice Lord Javier had given him didn't put that much emphasis on generational differences. As long as Ves made a forceful impression, he'd earn their respect somehow.
As Ves considered how to elevate himself into a big deal in the eyes of the Vesians, a slim but surprisingly strong hand grabbed hold of the collar of his uniform and dragged him out of the street and against the side of the wall of an empty estate.
"Foster! What is the meaning of this?!"
"You aren't getting away this time." She hissed as she brought her furious will to bear on him. "One way or another, I'll beat the answer out of you of what happened at that time. The lives of thousands of Hostland Warriors and the Meandering Monkeys demand justice!"
This was the second time Venerable Foster grabbed his collar and manhandled him against a surface. The last time, Ves enjoyed little protection, so he didn't dare fight back.
This time was different. He narrowed his eyes and pushed back against Venerable Foster, both physically and spiritually.
Though he did not possess the ability to infuse his willpower with his Spirituality like an expert pilot, he nonetheless attempted to concentrate his Spirituality into a dagger and send it out to Venerable Foster.
The expert pilot winced a little, though she wasn't sure where the sting in her mind came from. During that brief interruption, Ves grabbed her hand that was grasping against his collar and wrung it away by using a greater fraction of his physical strength.
Fortunately, Venerable Foster expected to face a pushover, so she hadn't exerted that much strength at all. In fact, she seemed surprised that Ves had the guts to resist her moves.
Ves got the sense that people rarely said no to Venerable Foster ever since she advanced to expert pilot.
"Venerable Foster, please be conscious of our current surroundings. We are not on the battlefield anymore."
A foot patrol of Honored Ones already arrived at the side. An intimidating-looking exoskeleton soldier stepped forward. "Is there a problem here?"
"Hopefully not." Ves responded.
Venerable Foster snorted and drew back her hand from Ves. "I won't stir up any trouble... for now."
"Please be more mindful of the rules, Venerable Foster." The Honored One said with a hint of forced respect. There was no way he would piss off an expert pilot, even a Vesian one. "If you wish to discuss more sensitive matters, there are more appropriate venues in Kester Hills."
"Please guide us to one."
Ves found himself being led to a small, isolated courtyard. He reluctantly took a seat next to a quant round garden table with a pot of tea already prepared for them. He quickly poured himself some tea in his tiny glass and began to sip it for lack of anything better to do.
In contrast, Venerable Foster sat on her chair with a straight posture and continued to study Ves with her burning eyes. She obviously wanted nothing more than to confront Ves of his past actions on Aeon Corona VII, yet her current assignment as well as the ubiquitous presence of the Honored restrained her from doing what she wanted.
Even if she was one of the most promising expert pilots to emerge from the Mech Legion in recent times, she didn't call the shots at the moment. Before she became an expert pilot, she was a soldier, and obedience to Vesian authority had long been stamped in her psyche.
That left her with no opportunity to bring up the topics she really wanted to talk about. Hence the extended silence ever since they sat down at this table.
"So." Ves began after he took a few sips of his soothing lavender tea. He found it regretful that the hosts hadn't served them chamomile tea, but then again he couldn't have everything. "Look, I get why you're not very pleased to see me right now. The feeling is mutual. However, our current bosses don't want us to make a scene. You agree with the goal of the peace talks, right?"
The expert pilot restrained her aggression to an extent and breathed deeply. "Don't patronize me. I'm quite aware of what is necessary at the moment. I am very much capable of taking the big picture into account."
Ves doubted it, but it wouldn't be polite to mention that. Instead, he moved on. "Let's just... talk. Try and find some common ground."
"Command ground? Us?" Venerable Foster reacted with a skeptical voice. "There is hardly anything I want to talk about with you. I don't need to know my enemies better when they're destined to die at my hands."
This loathsome Vesian expert pilot made it really difficult for Ves to remain polite. He grit his teeth as he held his frustrations back. Why was he the only one of the two who tried to fulfill his diplomatic obligations?
He even believed the main peace talks might encounter fewer hindrances than his attempt at maintaining a cordial conversation with Venerable Foster!
"What happened to your Belisarius, by the way?"
"Lost." She replied unemotionally. "It went down with the ship. Which is definitely your fault somehow. I know it. I can smell it from your snivelling body."
Ves was secretly glad that Venerable Foster no longer had access to that ridiculously strong and powerful expert mech. The Hafner Duchy pumped so much Rorach's Bone in its construction that its loss would be extremely painful to them! Even if Foster managed to return with the mission objective in hand, the loss of such an extravagantly expensive mech still marred her evaluation!
"Perhaps next time you Vesians will have some sense and design a more efficient mech for you. Obviously you aren't very attentive at keeping the property of the state secure."
That was if Foster spoke the truth. He didn't rule out that she was lying in his face in order to misdirect the Bright Republic.
Still, Venerable Foster intensified her glowering, making her displeasure at those words plain to see. "You don't need to poke into my business. By the way, where has that woman you hung out with back then? Calabast is her name, right? I'm surprised she kept you alive after using you. Ordinarily, intelligence types like her prefer to dispose of their tools once they outlived their usefulness."
Ves smiled back at Foster. "Unlike a wasteful pilot like you who somehow lost a mech worth a literal fortune, not everyone is as sloppy as you. What the Hafner Duchy sees in you, I don't know."
The tension between the two intensified. If the peace talks progressed this way at well, then Ves didn't see much hope for an amiable resolution.
Chapter 1041
The first couple of days since the start of the talks passed uneasily. Everyone involved in the beginning stages stormed out of the conference room in anger or frustration as they failed to come to a common understanding on the first items on the agenda.
Sunny Kester Hills became wracked by a cloud of tension and uncertainty as neither side managed to make a breakthrough on anything.
Still, this was just the start. It wasn't so easy to force the Brighters and Vesians to agree on anything. Just getting them to sit in the same room without drawing out their weapons was already a win in everyone's eyes.
Unfortunately, some people noticed that he spent some time with Venerable Foster in the first day. Secretary Lowe dropped by his quarters just as he turned in for the night after a fruitless day where he tried to avoid Venerable Foster's odious company.
The expert pilot still wanted to confront him for his alleged misdeeds against her comrades.
"Secretary Lowe, what brings you here?"
"I've arrived with instructions for you, Mr. Larkinson." The diplomatic aide responded. "You have been spending time with Venerable Foster, correct?"
Ves narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I have, though not entirely willingly. Are you aware that we once stood opposite to each other on the battlefield?"
"That is quite clear to both the senator and myself. While we are aware that you do not enjoy the best relations with the Vesian expert pilot, it is better to keep talking with her than doing nothing. In fact, Senator Tovar expressly instructed me to tell you that while you don't need to become friends with her, it would be beneficial if you manage to remain on speaking terms with her.
"You do know that she hates my guts, right?"
"Enemies don't have to set aside their difference to be on speaking terms, you know." Secretary Lowe replied in an airy tone. "The art of diplomacy also encompasses methods to smile at your enemy even if you wish for their demise."
"If you can't tell, I'm not versed in those methods. I'm a mech designer first and foremost. Give me a mech and I can tear it down and point out all of its weaknesses."
Lowe shook his head. "You will not be able to demonstrate your technical prowess during the peace talks. Professor Ventag is already responsible for matters concerning mechs. We have already explained our expectations for you. Make nice with the Vesians. If you can't manage that, just keep talking to them. The Vesians are very stubborn and predisposed against us. However, they've been invited by Prince Colchester to take part in the talks because they are more open-minded than many other Vesians."
Ves smiled sardonically at that remark. "I can hardly tell, considering how abundantly clear Venerable Foster makes her dislike for me known to all."
"Just like you, she is not a diplomat. None of us holds her to a higher standard in that regard. It is not that beneficial to have a delegation be made up of political and diplomatic animals. Sometimes bringing along a blunt object such as Venerable Foster can deliver the prince a pleasant surprise. She's a wildcard, just like you. There is no attaché in our delegation that is more fitting than you to interact with her. Your shared history with her might even prove to be an advantage!"
In other words, both delegations wanted to play their respective wildcards against each other and see what resulted from the ensuing confrontation. If a fight broke out, well, at least they tried. But the hope of making a breakthrough and coming to some sort of accord, however fragile and tenuous it may be, gave both sides ample enough reason to encourage Ves and Foster to continue their interaction.
"How are the peace talks going?" Ves asked, wishing to divert to another topic rather than continue to hammer on the previous point. He had already resigned himself to meeting Venerable Foster once again. "I heard that they're not getting off to a good start."
Lowe shook his head in regret. "It is not an entirely unexpected outcome. Both sides need an outlet to vent their grievances. How can any gathering between Brighters and Vesians proceed without issue? Harsh feelings and clashing egos may be posing a hindrance right now, but the most surprising results may be achieved from heated moments. We are unlike soulless bots who can come to a consensus in a matter of nanoseconds, but our irrationality is also our greatest hope of temporarily reconciling two diametrically-opposed states."
Ves found that to be an interesting perspective. It made sense to him in a strange fashion, though it was easier said than done to achieve the impossible. It felt too much like the delegates just threw random stuff at a wall to see what stuck.
"I will try my best." He promised in a perfunctory manner even if he did not hold out much hope for a breakthrough. "I don't think Venerable Foster is eager for small talk with me, though."
"You don't need to be concerned that she will refuse to talk. If our expectations are correct, she will be receiving similar instructions to yours. Prince Colchester wants to establish peace just as much as Senator Tovar."
It would have been great if they could gather in the same room and hash out an agreement in a single afternoon. Both leaders and statesmen shared the same goal, after all.
Yet this kind of backroom deal would never be accepted by the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom. They at least needed the illusion that their interests had been taken into account when forging the deal. This was why both sides brought an extensive collection of attachés.
While establishing ties between the two sides was all fine and dandy, their main purpose in taking part was to bring any agreed-upon peace treaty back to their states and convince everyone to abide by the terms.
Someone respected like Venerable Foster would be able to display her true value then. Her identity as a young and rising expert pilot gave her a lot of clout, even if she seemed a little too impulsive to make deft use of it at the moment.
After Secretary Lowe passed on the messages that Ves needed to hear, he departed the quarters.
Ves idly stared at a wall in contemplation. How could he possibly stay on speaking terms with Venerable Foster? He doubted that all of the advice provided by Lord Javier applied in this case.
"Even if she's a baroness, she's no typical stuck-up Vesian noble."
Her bearing made it abundantly clear that she considered herself as a soldier of the Mech Legion first.
"Well, I'll see what happens tomorrow."
As Ves went to bed, he began to think back on his current design project. Even though a couple of days had passed, he still hadn't managed to overcome the most pressing issue concerning his vision for his next creation.
Not every mech concept was viable. Some mech designers commonly came up with several ideas and picked the most practical and profitable of them out of a selection of choices.
Should he give up his intention to design a defensive space knight and put the idea aside in favor of another idea?
"I'm not under any obligation to insist on designing a space knight. Every burden is brought about by myself. Only I'm to blame for becoming stuck with this problem."
Attempting to design a mech that recreated some of Qilanxo's majesty got his passion fired up like nothing else, but practicality continued to stand in his way.
Ves felt an enormous amount of frustration at this impassable hindrance. It was as if he possessed urges but no outlets to release them! How did other mech designers deal with this issue?
"They'll probably give up." He guessed. "An unattainable dream isn't worth pursuing when you'll only ruin yourself if you vainly try to pursue it. Every mech designer wants to design a great mech. That doesn't mean they have the funding and means to do so. Many of us aren't in a position where we can ignore practical constraints!"
Rationally speaking, he should have given up on the idea to design a defensive space knight that paid homage to Qilanxo as soon as he learned how unfeasible it was. Incorporating genuine shield technology was out of the question. Polarizing technology offered a more viable alternative, but even then it took up way too much space to fit comfortably in any medium mech design.
Yet Ves did no wish to give up. His passion kept burning and he would hate to put it out by abandoning this mech concept. Some part in him urged him to continue to work on his current idea. If he succeeded in designing a workable mech along these lines, the magnitude of his achievement might even be enough to propel him directly into the ranks of Journeymen!
"This joint design project is a turning point in my career. How can I walk back from the challenge for fear of practical concerns?"
Logic and emotion clashed against each other, and emotion won out. What was best for Ves did not necessarily match with what he really wanted. He believed that if he ever turned away from this idea, he wouldn't be able to regain his motivation which had reached its height right now.
"Sometimes, a mech designer has to lay down their foot and pursue their passion despite the entire galaxy being arrayed against it. There must be some way of overcoming the problem."
The polarizing module simply took up too much mass and volume. I was too big compared to the capacity of a regular space knight. Trying to fit such a component into a mech without sufficient space was like trying to stuff his head into a sock.
He took a step back and contemplated the problem at its most basic level.
"My head is too big and my sock is too small. What can I do to make my head fit into my sock?"
Two answers immediately came to mind. The first answer was to shrink is head.
Ves chuckled a bit at the thought. "That's impossible."
His head, and the polarizing module for that matter, came in a given set of dimensions. The developers of the polarizing module already tried their best to minimize their volume and mass. There was no way Ves could ever shrink that even further.
Therefore, he moved on to the second answer. That was to enlargen his sock to a size that would just be able to slip over his head.
That sounded fine and dandy in this funny metaphor, but when Ves came back to his mech concept, that basically meant increasing the size of the mech frame!
"The space knight doesn't have to be as large of a heavy mech, but it will already be well beyond the boundaries of a medium mech by the time it is able to fit the polarizing module!"
Ves performed a series of mental calculations in his mind. He estimated that his space knight needed to surpass the size of a regular space knight that already pushed against the limits of the medium weight class by about twenty percent.
This essentially made his proposed mech concept at least twenty percent oversized and overweight!
"It's essentially an obese medium mech!"
From a conventional perspective, a fat mech did not offer any good performance. A medium mech that was too large and heavy didn't possess the mobility to dodge incoming fire and didn't possess the resilience to withstand it head-on for long.
Yet... did this rule of thumb actually apply in this case?
"I automatically thought it does out of habit, but is that really the correct assumption to apply in this situation?"
Even if he designed fat medium mech, did that really detract from core functionality of his space knight? From the start, it was mainly intended to serve a defensive role. A mech did not depend too much on mobility anyhow.
The real question was whether the tradeoff in mobility would be worth the gains in defensive ability.
"Cost is also a major issue." Ves recognized. "A mech that's twenty percent larger is at least twenty percent more expensive. Will anyone still be willing to buy one? I have to offer a compelling reason for people to buy my mech. What can my mech do that most defensive knights can't do as well?"
Chapter 1042
A week went by as the peace talks made glacial progress. The cultural differences as well as the acrimonious dislike for each other prevented the Brighters and Vesians from getting along.
Both of them knew that they needed to forge some sort of bond at Kester Hills, but it was easier said than done to make friends with your worst enemies.
The tense, silence-prone meetings that Ves held with Venerable Foster went no better.
While Ves was rational enough to acknowledge his dislike for the Vesians but set it aside, Venerable Foster was remarkably stubborn in her animosity towards Brighters. It didn't help that she disliked Ves in particular for his involvement in the Aeon Corona Mission.
She held grievances. A lot of grievances. From her scattered remarks, Ves inferred that just like the Flagrant Vandals, the Hostland Warriors and the Meandering Monkeys suffered huge losses in their landbound and spaceborn ranks.
The abrupt shutdown of the Starlight Megalodon's FTL drives, Sigrund's unshackling and the mobbing of all the errant sandman motherships stranded in the star system all caught the Vesians off-guard.
If the Vandals already lost a huge amount of mechs and ships, then how could the Vesians be any different?
While Ves conceded that he might be partially responsible for the losses incurred by the Vandals and Vesians, it was a hectic and confusing time back then. He couldn't have achieved a better outcome unless he knew about Sigrund's threat beforehand, which he didn't. The hybrid sandman AI fooled everyone who took the bait, and now this rampant entity was loose in the galaxy.
Sigrund should have earned Venerable Foster's ire, but her lack of awareness about him led her to turn her attention to Ves instead.
He couldn't say he enjoyed the attention even if it let him remain within her company.
On her end, Venerable Foster likely couldn't get used to how Ves easily ignored her force of will and presence. She wasn't the first expert pilot he met and wouldn't be the last. His time with the Larkinsons already disabused him of his hero worship for expert pilots, and her considerable spiritual pressure only splashed uselessly against his concentrated mind.
It became evident that Venerable Foster became increasingly puzzled by how inscrutable Ves behaved in her presence. She had never met a young mech designer who resisted her presence so nonchalantly.
Half of the time, Ves allocated his thoughts to something other than the current gridlock. He constantly refined the vision of his space knight in his mind. He considered several different possibilities, but he couldn't get away from designing a super-medium mech if he wanted to fit in a bulky and heavy polarizing module.
When Ves managed to catch up with Professor Ventag, he finally described the radical idea that formented in his mind.
To his credit, Ventag didn't laugh at him in his face. Even so, he did not look favorable on the idea.
"Mr. Larkinson, you are not the only person who toyed with designing a super-medium mech. Let's take a step back and consider this unusual class. Do you know why mech designers avoid designing super-medium mechs?"
Ves nodded and gave the standard answer. "Mechs that exceed the mediumweight class but don't match the heavyweight class are too weakly-armored to withstand an extended bombardment and don't have enough mobility to dodge it either."
"So what makes your super-medium mech concept special that it can ignore these rules?"
"The custom against designing a super-medium mech is just a guideline. In the past, mech designers didn't worry about categorizing their mechs in three weight classes. While there is a good reason to adhere to the three weight classes, there are limitations to this paradigm. They constrain our thinking and prevents us from accepting the most appropriate solutions even if they stare at us in the face."
Professor Ventag smiled and crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair in the courtyard. "You have a critical mind. I like it. Questioning assumptions and established theory is the mark of a mech designer with an aptitude for research. Those are very necessary traits for higher-ranking mech designers, but it is rather unusual for me to see them in an Apprentice. You are ahead of your peers in that regard."
"Thank you, sir."
"That said, inquisitive Apprentices sometimes question assumptions too early in their career. Before you break the rules, make sure you understand their necessity. Now tell me what your super-medium space knight concept offers that regular medium space knights lack."
"Well, you see, sir, I made some calculations..."
Ves activated his comm and showed off his scribblings, his loose calculations and his sketches. While he hadn't drafted a complete design as of yet, he toyed with various sketches of super-medium mechs that somehow incorporated the large polarizing module.
"This sketch shows the most feasible approach so far." Ves described as he showed off his latest sketch. It kind of looked like an obese mech. "The thick girth of this mech may look unwieldy, but the design is only roughly twenty-five percent larger than a typical medium defensive space knight. It features strong limbs, a large and sturdy torso and a tall tower shield."
"What is the use of such a mech?"
"It's purely allocated for defense. In exchange for giving up the ability to move fast in space, it offers much higher defense. While its mobility is severely constrained compared to regular medium space knights, some outfits never make full use of the mobility of this mech type anyway. Think about security companies or mercenary corps that are contracted to escort trade convoys. When pirates attempt to raid the convoy despite the presence of guards, possessing a super-medium mech that can take a substantially greater beating than regular space knights will help shield the vulnerable trade ships from collateral damage."
"I don't hear anything that a cheaper, more normal-sized medium space knight can do as well. You will have to offer more in order to convince the market and I of the merits of your concept, Mr. Larkinson."
"It's more cost-effective." Ves pushed another angle. "Even though my mech will be twenty-five percent larger and thus at least twenty-five percent more expensive, the defensive prowess it gains in turn would be increased as well. Its larger size and power means it has more surface area for its armor plating. This allows it to perform its core function for quite a bit longer."
"A mech that is twenty-five percent larger won't be twenty-five percent more durable." Professor Ventag said as he shook his head. "Concentrated fire on a single section of your mech will allow enemies to punch through its armor and cripple it without wasting their firepower on the rest of the mech. Its low mobility will only increase the effectiveness of this tactic."
"Ah, but this is where the polarizing module comes in. Once it comes online and charges the sections of the armor plating with the effect, it can temporarily shield the targeted section on its exterior against enemy fire! It's particularly effective against laser beams which boasts the highest degree of accuracy in space battles! As for slower ballistic projectiles, their travel time is just long enough that my super-medium mech will still be able to move and cause them to miss their mark."
This time, Professor Ventag furrowed his brows as he simulated Ves' arguments in his on mind. At first, he was dismissive of the radical idea of employing a super-medium mech. Yet the uses envisioned by Ves made a lot more sense!
The Senior looked increasingly more intrigued as he contemplated the intended use. "I admit, your idea sounds more plausible than the minute. However, are you aware of how difficult it is to implement such localized polarization into your design?"
The polarizing module ordinarily polarized the exterior of the entire mech against damage. However, this wasn't very efficient as the polarizing field wasted lots of energy just by remaining active. The larger the field, the more energy the mech expended.
Therefore, more advanced use of polarizing technology sought to reinforce smaller portions of a mech. However, this demanded a lot out of a mech designer. The polarizing field needed support from the internal architecture to sustain its effects, and therefore required space to integrate special channels leading up to various sections of the mech.
The smaller and more granular the polarizing effect, the more channels required, taking up valuable space and increasing the complexity of the mech's internal architecture!
However, Ves was nothing if not confident in his own abilities. "I believe in my mech concept. Let me at least try before we rule it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results."
"I'm not quite convinced by the appeal of your mech just yet." Professor Ventag frowned again. "The polarizing module itself expends a lot of energy. Even if you are able to add more energy cells into your enlarged design, I can't see your mech sustaining the effect more than ten minutes. Is that truly sufficient to be worth purchasing?"
Ves nodded gravely. "My space knight won't earn any endurance awards. Most battles don't last that long, I think. In most cases, the armor of a space knight will get worn away long before their energy cells are drained. Also, think of it this way. The mech pilot of my space knight isn't just limited to polarizing its armor reactively against precision fire. It can also spread the effect over its shield or its armor and absorb enemy fire without sustaining material damage."
"Why does that matter?"
"It's more cost-effective in shorter engagements. Any battle that space knights are involved in results in material damage to their shields or exterior armor plating at the very least. It not only takes money to replace or repair the armor plating, it also consumes a decent amount of manpower and time to do so. Think of treasure hunting fleets venturing out in the frontier. When pirates learn of their whereabouts, they'll trickle in and harass the treasure hunters frequently in order to wear them out. In such an instance, rather than taking armor damage, wouldn't it be better to let the polarizing field absorb much of the damage instead in these low-intensity engagements? The only damage my space knight will sustain is a couple of depleted energy cells."
Ves came up with such a use due to his own personal experiences with the Flagrant Vandals. His stint as head designer made him intimately familiar with all of the headaches that emerged whenever the Vandals survived a battle. Even when they won, it was a huge hassle and drain on resources to repair the damaged mechs.
"I think... these cases sound plausible." Professor Ventag conceded, before playing devil's advocate again. "Still, these scenarios are very narrow and specific. A normal space knight may not offer any advantages in those specific scenarios, but it offers a lot better performance outside them. Your space knight is very inflexible. Its lack of versatility in other types of engagements will heavily impact its appeal."
"That's a tradeoff that I'm willing to take." Ves smiled. He made peace with this consequence. "Frankly, I don't believe the demand for my super-medium space knight will be so low. How many convoys are there these days? How many space knights are anchored to space stations and other fixed facilities in space? This is a substantial niche market in my eyes! I don't think there are many mechs at all that fills this niche as well as my super-medium space knight!"
Ventag wasn't taken in by his optimistic projection. "That's a very bold assumption of you. Yet how will the market really respond to such a deviant mech type? Have you ever thought of the possibility that the market will be prejudiced against your design solely due to its aberrant weight class? Have you ever factored in the backlash that both our companies will incur if we publish such a controversial mech design?"
"Backlash?" Ves puzzled.
Chapter 1043
"You have no idea how preconceptions run deep in the mech market." Professor Ventag stated. "First, think about the meaning of the word 'market'. It's a gathering of people who exchange goods and services to each other. The key word here is people. Without people, mechs won't get produced and sold. And while people can act somewhat rationally at the macro level, they are not devoid of bias."
A light went on in Ves' mind. He remembered the Skull Architect ranting against the imperfections of the mech market one time. The fugitive Senior Mech Designer once railed against some of the biases as well!
"So what you're saying is that because people have learned that super-medium mechs are a bad idea, they'll automatically be predisposed against my mech concept?"
"It's worse than you think, Mr. Larkinson. They'll take the initiative to disparage your product to their friends and on the galactic net. The negative feedback that will ensue as soon as we publish such a mech will impact our personal reputation and the reputation of our companies severely. It's fine if you decide to stray off the beaten path and ignore the rules that have been in place for centuries. Not everyone is as open-minded, however. Your design becomes a major problem when you impose your eccentric decisions on the market."
As much as he hated it, Ves knew that Professor Ventag might be right about the mech market's intolerance for his deviant design.
Yet... did that discourage him from pushing through with the concept he came up with? No. This the only practical way to implement his vision for a mech that emulated Qilanxo's defensive prowess to a degree. He felt passionate and motivated in making this vision come to life, to the point where he suspected that he might even be able to advance to Journeyman on the spot as soon as he completed the design!
He only felt so good about his mech designs a couple of times. Such a feeling of hope and certainty was hard to come by, and Ves knew he wouldn't be nearly as passionate if he was forced to discard his current vision and start over from scratch.
He was emotionally invested in the vision he came up with! Although provoking a backlash sounded rather bad to Ves, he was still young and he could afford to make some blunders early in his career.
Yet it was an entirely different when it came to someone older and more established such as Professor Ventag and NORA Consolidated. His company spent decades building up its brand as a trusted indicator for quality mechs. If NORA became tied to his controversial mech design, it would incur much greater reputational damage, to the tune of missing billions of credits in monthly sales perhaps!
"Do you recognize my dilemma?" Professor Ventag asked with a smile. "There is a large risk in becoming involved in such a controversial mech design. In my eyes, the costs outweigh the benefits. From a marketing standpoint, it does not make any sense to incur a substantial backlash and depress the sales of my other products in order to introduce a risky new concept to the market with uncertain sales potential."
"So you disapprove?"
"I do. My company will not want to be involved in your radical mech design. The damage to our reputation is simply too severe."
Ves hunched over in defeat. Those were very compelling reasons why they shouldn't design a super-medium mech. Would he really have to discard this groundbreaking mech concept? Perhaps he could still save this idea for later and develop it on his own rather than involve a Senior.
Half a minute later, the professor smiled at Ves. "However... are you really so resigned to let our companies and the market dictate which mechs we ought to design?"
"Professor?" Ves asked with a puzzled tone.
"I can tell you believe in your mech concept. The logic behind it isn't bad either. So from a technical and design standpoint, your current ideas have merit. This will insure at least some sober mech buyers will see the appeal in the product. If we hold some highly-targeted marketing campaigns, we might be able to break even at the very least."
"Even so, breaking even will not undo our other losses." Ves recognized.
"If the market reacts as I predict, you may be right. Yet your thinking is too narrow. Our gains and losses aren't confined to reputation and finances."
The professor leaned back in his chair as he let Ves work out the meaning behind his hint.
Half a minute passed as Ves parsed the greater meaning. "Are you saying.. there may be other benefits?"
"I am. First, let us consider your personal benefits. What price are you willing to pay to advance to Journeyman? Many mech designers never catch the impetus that is required to make the jump. They are too timid and not confident enough in their design philosophy to proceed with designing the mechs that conform to their beliefs. They are too concerned about practical constraints and the reaction from the market to take a bold step forward. In your case, I have a very good feeling about your progress if you proceed with this vision of yours."
Ves nodded. "I feel so as well."
"That alone makes this project worthwhile for you. Sometimes, a mech design doesn't have to make sense to benefit you. Companies rise and fall all the time. In the worst case, your company might go bankrupt. Is that so awful? As long as you successfully advance to Journeyman immediately or shortly after publishing the design, you can enter the mech industry again from a much higher vantage point. There are always investors willing to provide seed money to get a Journeyman back in business."
While Ves did not wish for the LMC to flounder, Ventag was right that it wouldn't be impossible to start anew. The damage to people's livelihoods would be very large, though. He would also suffer other repercussions. He wanted to avoid such a destructive outcome, if only to keep his power base on his home planet secure.
"What about you, professor? Will you be able to benefit personally as well?"
"I have some ideas. You've inspired me, Mr. Larkinson." The professor smiled amiably. "Are you aware of my specialty?"
It took a short time for Ves to remind himself of that fact. "You're specialized in damage control. Your mechs have a greater capacity for withstanding damage!"
NORA Consolidated's mech catalog featured products that possessed a higher average of redundancy and compartmentalization than its direct competitors. Even without the use of thicker armor or more expensive materials, their mechs were always able to survive one or two more hits while other mechs would have collapsed already!
"My specialty does not specifically favor any particular mech type. Whether I'm designing a knight mech or a rifleman mech, I can improve upon both of them when it comes to absorbing damage and maintaining their functionality even when their armor has been breached. However, the most significant aspect of my specialty is that the more room I have to work with, the more I can express my advantages."
Ves lit up at that. Basically, Professor Ventag's strong point was designing an exquisite internal architecture for a mech!
There wouldn't be much for him to tweak when it came to lean and narrow light mechs. Yet larger mechs offered much greater internal volume. This amplified the possibilities at Ventag's disposal.
While a heavy mech would be ideal for him to showcase his talents, a super-medium mech still offered distinct advantages compared to regular medium mechs. It wasn't much of a detriment for Professor Ventag to work on a super-medium mech design!
"I admit that I have long adhered to the rigid division of weight classes." Professor Ventag said regretfully. "I truly wish I possessed some of your open mindedness. I have never truly participated in the design of a super-medium mech. The thought simply hasn't entered my mind, and without a logical and compelling mech concept like yours, I would have never come up with a reason to do so. What Seniors like me fear the most is stagnation and running out of viable ideas. So believe me when I state that I will make some definite gains in my own research if I work with your mech concept. That is worth the damage to our reputation and our earnings."
"So.. reputation and money are just resources for us to expend in order to advance our ability to design mechs?"
The professor nodded in approval. "That's the right mindset you should take. There are some who take it too far, but the best mech designers are those who pursue their own interests rather than pay an undue amount of deference to market demand and public opinion. It is never a bad idea to explore and apply your design philosophy in greater detail even if it sets back your business career. An Apprentice is an Apprentice. A Journeyman is a Journeyman. The two are so vastly different that there is no comparison between their value."
While Ves got his point, he still couldn't quite get over the consequences to their reputation and earnings. He also noted another point of concern. "Our reputation is vital to keep our backers and allies content, right? If we drag down our own reputation, will our supporters still be so generous to us?"
This was a very real concern for NORA Consolidated because it possessed strong ties to the Tovars and Rittersberg. As for Ves, his principal backer was Flashlight, an organization who ruthlessly pursued their goals regardless of their means. If Ves tanked his own company somehow, he would be going against their pragmatism by reducing the value of his company.
If Ves advanced to Journeyman, he could make up for the losses somehow, but if he didn't then Flashlight wouldn't be pleased.
"That is indeed a very serious concern." Professor Ventag conceded. "Yet it is not as bad as you think. Innovation has a price. Innovation can also shape your reputation in other ways, not all of them bad. If you become known to produce innovative designs, even if they have mixed results, the few successes you've achieved will be sufficient to make up for your flops."
"So if I keep designing these kinds of mechs, the market will get used to my eccentricities?"
"Correct. By starting with experimenting on unusual design concepts, you build up a tolerance in your reputation for designing mechs that do not completely conform to current market demand. That is a useful trait to acquire because it allows you to get away with mistakes more often. It can become a key part of your brand! Any backers you have will be much more pleased with that outcome because it is so rare in the mech industry."
The professor's explanations were very high-minded, but Ves was sincerely convinced by the professor's answers. Everything had a price, but innovation was never easy. Advancing up the ladder should be the core focus of every mech designer!
Ves was surprised that Professor Ventag maintained such a strong focus on advancement. He thought that the Senior had lost himself into his political games, but it turned out he maintained a sober mind with regards to his associations with the Tovars, the DCTI and Rittersberg.
"Dare to design." Ventag summed up his point. "Money and reputation are the end goals of vulgar, short-sighted mech designers who will never advance beyond the Novice and Apprentice stages. If you follow market trends to a religious degree, all of your designs will only follow the crowd and be lost among the competition."
"A true mech designer isn't afraid of setting market trends instead of following them like a sheep!" Ves remarked.
With Professor Ventag's encouragement and support, Ves decided to adopt his current mech concept of a super-medium space knight for their joint design project. They refined his concept even further in their subsequent discussion.
Although the professor needed to return to the talks in order to provide expert council to the negotiators, Ves returned with high spirits. The risk of incurring backlash from the market no longer concerned him that much. Even if he received a flood of criticism, it would all be worth it if he advanced to Journeyman before he reached his thirties.
Chapter 1044
Ves made a lot of progress on refining his vision for his super-medium space knight the last few days. Ever since he received Professor Ventag's feedback and assistance, he tinkered with his vision in order to assure himself that his concept would perform well enough to attract actual market demand.
"Dare to design."
This motto stuck with Ves. It resonated with him. It sounded like the words of a true mech designer, one that was bold enough to design mechs.
"Even so, innovation comes with a price." He said to himself in a depreciating manner. "If it was so easy to buckle the predominant trends in the market, then a lot more mech designers would have already published a large bunch of super-medium mechs and other whacky designs."
Perhaps intentionally or unintentionally, Professor Ventag severely downplayed the negative consequences of pursuing innovation. The Senior painted a rosy picture of the benefits of pushing through with their innovative design, yet would the future really play out as the man described?
"It's impossible to predict the future!" Ves believed. He was not so arrogant to the point of claiming to predict how the market and everyone else with a stake in him and his company would respond to this design. "The backlash might be even greater and more enduring to someone like me than someone with a rock-solid reputation like Ventag."
Corus Ventag designed so many great mechs that he wouldn't be suffering that much of a hit to his reputation when he acquired a single blemish. As for Ves, while it was true that the market would forgive him for his missteps since he was so young, it would be hard to regain his old height after proving to the market that he was fallible like many other average mech designers.
In addition, mech designers defied the market at their own risk. What is his super-medium space knight design acquired such a negative reputation that even those willing to give it a try would be turned off?
Ves feared that all of the criticism would depress the sales of his design and thereby limit its proliferation in the Bright Republic and the Komodo Star Sector.
A mech designer derived a large part of their satisfaction and motivation on how widespread their designs proliferated. A struggling Novice who worked months or years on a single design, only to sell ten or so copies in its lifetime would feel as if their work hardly mattered.
He already learned that the impact of a mech designer's work affected a mech designer's chances of progressing and advancing.
Someone who designed a dozen virtual mechs a year likely wouldn't be able to match the progress of someone who designed only a single mech a year. That was because their concrete impact on society differed hugely, with the designer of the real mech directly affecting the state of the galaxy in a small but very real fashion.
"An artist does not produce art for their own enjoyment. Art is made to be shared and appreciated. The same applies to mech design."
Someone could train for hundreds of years to be the best painter in the galaxy, but what was the point if they hoarded their art and stuffed them in the closet? Besides, who knew if he was really the best if he didn't showcase his work to the public and listen to feedback?
Without going through the rigors of public exposure, art held little meaning!
"Mech designers design mechs because they are meant to be used. If the mechs we design don't fulfill this essential purpose, what is the meaning of their existence? There isn't any. It's no surprise that mech designers who can't even find the meaning of their own designs stall in their growth."
Naturally, the presence and absence of spirituality played a role as well, but even so, if the joint design project sold less than a hundred copies in its lifetime, it wasn't a worthwhile mech design to Ves and Professor Ventag.
He was aware that many mech designers would be happy at selling more than a dozen copies of their mechs. Not Ves. Not anymore. "The sales figures of my Blackbeak and Crystal Lord designs are much higher than that. There should be no good reason for me to regress to the level of a struggling Novice."
No. Ves wanted to move forward and close the chapter of his life as an Apprentice.
However, in order to advance to Journeyman, his mech design needed to possess sufficient appeal that it attracted a sufficient amount of sales even under a storm of criticism!
The stakes of the joint design project was already high. By deciding on designing a super-medium space knight, Ves made the risky gamble even riskier by making a leveraged bet!
If he won this bet and achieved success despite the inevitable backlash he incurred, then all of the pain would have been worth it as he rode the high tide of innovation to Journeyman and beyond!
On the other hand, if he lost this bet, he not only wasted a priceless opportunity to collaborate with a Senior Mech Designer, he also risked tanking his company and set back his business aspirations!
Ves did not forget about his intention to participate in the upcoming rat race to design mechs for the upcoming generation as soon as it began!
"If I avoid excessive risks, I'm sure I can scrounge up a decent amount of money in time."
Yet Ves found this course of action to be distinctly appealing. Playing it safe may offer greater security, but where was the excitement in that? The Larkinson in him favored making bold moves, and venturing into the unknown conformed with the values of higher-ranking mech designers.
"A conventional mech designers merely follows the market trend. A great mech designer sets the market trend."
Naturally, the latter also needed to possess the right judgement to know when it was a good idea to go off the beaten path. Someone who recklessly designed weird mechs with little consequence on how the market would react to them would inevitably go broke and bankrupt.
Also, sometimes a mech designer might go too far in their pursuit of the unconventional. The Skull Architect's example came to mind. That man possessed a brilliant mind and an admirable attitude towards research, but he also had a few screws loose in his head.
Ves did not relish becoming as unhinged as the Skull Architect in his desire to push the boundaries of existing conventions.
Even so, such potentially extreme outcomes did not deter his adventurous spirit. Ves deeply wanted to fulfill his vision of designing a mech that paid homage to Qilanxo! The high stakes involved with this course of action only piled up the pressure on him, making him more serious yet more passionate than ever before!
"This is my most significant mech design to date! As long as everything goes right, even the Blackbeak and the critical Crystal Lord pales in comparison to the impact of this joint design project!"
As he continued to work over his vision in his mind during the following days, his good mood stood in stark contrast to the depression that enveloped Kester Hills.
The negotiations hadn't gone well at all. No progress had been made at all. In fact, the relations between the Tovar Peace Delegation and the Colchester Peace Delegation even regressed into an even greater degree of mutual dislike!
"I've been a bit distracted lately so I haven't been following the negotiations." Ves said to Secretary Lowe when the diplomatic assistant made his regular visits. "Why is everyone staring daggers at each other?"
Lowe sighed. "It's a complicated issue. Since you've recently been stationed on Bentheim, surely you must be aware of how the Vesians pushed into the Bright Republic with the express aim of taking the fight directly into our port system. This is a risky strategy that they've pursued in this edition of the war. The Vesians already paid a heavy price to push in so deep and the invasion forces are constantly at risk of getting cut off. However, the threat of attacking the Bentheim System is in itself a potent tool in the negotiations. Like brandishing a Sword of Damocles over our heads, the Vesians aren't shy about alluding to severe devastation and ruin on the Bright Republic's most important economic center should they fail to get what they want out of the negotiations."
Now he could see why relations dipped below freezing point. Ves knew that the fear of such a direct invasion was real among Brighters. "How did our side respond?"
"They downplayed the threat of the invasion and maintain a belief that the Vesians wouldn't actually dare to go through. Invading the Bentheim System comes with severe repercussions. It might not be the Mech Corps that will lose out in a direct against the Mech Legion. However, the Vesians have a potent retort to any attempts at downplaying the threat."
"The Bentheim Liberation Movement." Ves guessed. "They're a threat as well, and in implicit coordination with the Vesians. If they are preparing for a major attack from within, Bentheim might not be able to repel the Vesian invasion so easily!"
An attack from within and without would definitely devastate Bentheim like nothing else! Even if the Mech Corps managed to repel the Mech Legion with great difficulty, they would only encounter ruins if they turned around.
If Bentheim became ruined, the trade and industry that took place there would take a huge hit! Money would stop flowing and the entire star system along with the rest of the Bright Republic would suffer severe shortages that would ripple into the daily lives of many average Brighters!
In short, the entire Bright Republic would bleed if the Tovar Peace Delegation recklessly called the Colchester Peace Delegation's bluff!
Secretary Lowe illuminated their current difficulties. "The main problem our negotiators are facing right now is our inability to ascertain whether the intention to invade the Bentheim System is a bluff or an actual plan. The lack of information on the Vesian bottom line is casting uncertainty on the stance we should take. Should we stay confident and implacable and risk devastation, or should we concede and give up ground?"
"What do the Vesians demand in return for calling off their supposed invasion of the Bentheim System?"
"A lot. More than double of the territory they gained when they gained the upper hand in the previous wars. Perhaps two-dozen star systems in the border region will change hands. That is on top of the monetary compensation that we have to provide. They're asking for a quarter of Bentheim's tax revenue for the next decade. Absurd! That is enough money to drown their noble throats a million times over! The Bright Republic would definitely suffer under a long-term depression if they relinquish that much income!"
Ves did not have a clue how many bright credits all of this was worth, but he doubted the LMC came close to matching those figures in their annual earnings. His little company was only a drop in a bucket compared to the sheer amount of money the state raked in every year!
"With such a heavy price, I think we'd rather call their bluff and fight it out."
"That is the response of most of our delegation and I suspect the rest of the Republic." Secretary Lowe shook his head. "Yet that is exactly what Senator Tovar wishes to avoid. He isn't keen on weakening the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom only to allow third parties to pick up a bargain. I believe Prince Colchester knows this as well, but he won't be able to placate the warmongers from his own state by proposing a white peace. If he can manage to secure significantly more gains through negotiations than the Mech Legion can secure an advantage in the war if they fight it out, then most of the Vesians will be able to stomach an early end of the war."
That in turn would piss the Brighters off so much that they would rather continue the war, thereby making the peace treaty enforceable!
The current conundrum between the two delegations remained an implacable obstacle in the peace talks. Without resolving this difficult hurdle in a way that was acceptable to both sides, perhaps the peace talks might meet a premature end before they even came close to achieving success!
Chapter 1045
The Sword of Damocles the Vesians dangled over Bentheim threw the entire peace talks into a very precarious phase. As long as no one could manage to find a way to resolve the deadlock acceptable to both parties, they could forget about making other agreements.
A small mech designer like Ves could offer no input at all in such a high-stakes game of chicken. Right now, Ves somewhat felt that the current standoff tested each other's patience. The side who conceded first lost out or something like that.
Discussions still went on as each side tested the limits of the other. They frequently descended into overexaggerated shouting matches.
Ves barely noticed the deteriorating situation in Kester Hills. His head was up in the clouds as his inspiration ran amuck in his mind. He continued to sketch the vision of his mech, refining its overall shape and picking and choosing what attributes he wanted to emphasize.
In a break from his previous methods, he met up with Professor Ventag every evening once the talks for the day ended. Ves shared his current thoughts and difficulties and Ventag offered various hints or solutions, some of which were so difficult or advanced that only a Senior could realize these design aspects!
All of these improvements and additions elevated the design in his mind to a higher standard. To be honest, the technical planning involved already went beyond the reach of an Apprentice.
"It's not completely my design anymore."
Ves half-understood some of the measures, but many of them simply went beyond him, particularly the design elements revolving around redundancy and compartmentalization. The drafts that Professor Ventag casually sketched in a projection sometimes made the younger mech designer's eyes turn dizzy.
He learned not to peer in too close in these details. As a mech designer, he didn't necessarily need to know the ins-and-out of individual components and sections of his design. From a pure design ideology, they merely needed to fit the pieces of the puzzle together in the most optimal and synergistic combination.
"Even if it's not completely my design anymore, as long as I maintain overall control of the direction of the design, it's still my work."
The assistance provided by Professor Ventag was only supplementary to his design process. Ves essentially turned him into a very smart database who would spit out the right answers or at least point him in the right direction whenever he asked a difficult question.
For his part, the professor was content to let Ves take the reins and demonstrate his design process in real time.
This was also a test, after all.
When Ves next met up with Venerable Foster at a courtyard, his lack of focus on her attracted the expert pilot's attention.
His persistent smile as he goofed off in his mind trying to refine his mech concept stood in stark contrast to the frowning, glowering or sneering faces of the other members of the two delegations.
Ves cared nothing at all about their difficulties! At this moment, the momentum of designing a new, innovative and original mech in a weight class which very few mech designers dabbled in before swept him up entirely!
Even if the heavens may fall, let his mech be designed!
"What are you smiling about so much?" Venerable Foster asked in an abrasive tone. "Don't you realize we've got you Brighters by the balls?"
"Huh what?" Ves drew his attention from his ongoing mental design work. "Oh that? Pff. Who cares. The only way this pissing match will end is if both sides compromise and meet in the middle. All of the blustering that's going on now is merely theater."
The Venerable took affront of his dismissive attitude. "Say again? We're deadly serious here. You Brighters ought to be grateful if we canceled our invasion of Bentheim in exchange for concessions!"
"Yeah right. Everyone and their mother knows the Mech Legion is overreaching in order to get into a position to invade Bentheim. You guys won't actually go through with it because the military forces that you'll commit in the invasion will be devastated. Either they'll break against our system and planetary fortifications, or the Mech Corps will somehow cut off your escape route and crush your stranded carriers and mechs."
What Ves just said was the most logical outcome of the invasion. Barring any nasty surprises and brilliant stratagems, a reckless invasion of the Bentheim System would never end well.
"Even if our forces fall up short, Bentheim will still be ruined. Just the threat of war will spook many traders and investors from doing business in your precious port system." Venerable Foster smirked.
"Who will be willing to throw away their mechs and ships into the pit, then?" Ves poked back. "Your Mech Legion is led by selfish nobles wearing officer hats. I doubt that anyone of them would voluntarily play along to what is essentially a suicide mission for them. Will they truly be willing to throw away their military assets and their own lives for the greater good of the Vesia Kingdom?"
"A true loyal Vesian will know what is best!" She replied in a righteous manner, unaware that she fell into his verbal trap.
Ves smirked at that. He might not completely understand the Vesian mindset, but human nature didn't change. The agency problem that he learned about in his business classes also applied to the government and the military.
"I don't think the individual nobles and their noble houses will be enthusiastic about throwing away the lives of their scions and discarding their military assets. How would you compensate their losses? The Vesians don't have that much wealth to throw around and it's already been divvied up by all the duchies. Those nobles who offered up their forces would all be pissed at the puppet masters who orchestrated this show and perhaps even intensify the rebellions within your state! At the very least, an attack on Bentheim will hurt you Vesians just as much!"
The self-serving nature of the Vesians prevented them from engaging in large, coordinated actions. A possible invasion of Bentheim would be nothing different. Nobody wanted to stick out their heads and volunteer for the most dangerous duties only to benefit their more cowardly rivals.
From the intensifying glower on Venerable Foster's face, she recognized the truth in his words. That didn't lessen her determination at all. No matter what, she supported anything that made the Bright Republic suffer.
"One way or another, we'll make you bleed." She hissed.
Ves waved his hand dismissively and already went back to tinkering on his design in his head. "Whatever. You Vesians always talk big, but you never deliver on them once you balk at the price you have to pay."
Obviously, Ves made little progress in befriending Venerable Foster. They simply weren't compatible people.
At least Lord Javier put down his arrogance and made an effort to grow closer to Ves, though his lack of leverage also had a lot to do with it.
In contrast, Venerable Foster was an expert pilot in her prime. Though she likely lost the extremely expensive Belisarius in her mission, being pivotal in the effort to deliver a dose of high-grade life-prolonging treatment serum to Prince Colchester more than made up for the losses.
In the perspective of those old dinosaurs, an extra hundred years of their life was worth incalculably more than a mech worth as much as a mech regiment if not more!
From the way the other Vesians regarded Venerable Foster, she enjoyed a considerable position of favor among their ranks. Calling her Prince Colchester's pet wouldn't be too far from the truth.
That even expert pilots needed to bow their heads to someone made an impression on Ves. Only a tiny amount of people truly called the shots in their respective states and organizations. Others were forced to take orders from someone else no matter their strengths and achievements.
"Unless you're a Master Mech Designer, an ace pilot, a high official or similar, you will never be able to make your own decisions. Not completely."
Even so, part of the reason why Venerable Foster enjoyed so much attention and respect was because she enjoyed great growth prospects. This ridiculously talented mech pilot not only possessed an exceedingly high genetic aptitude, she was also loyal and hard-working.
As long as she kept up her current growth rate, she might very well become a pillar of the Hafner Duchy and the Vesia Kingdom!
Ves still found her presence at the peace talks to be wholly out of place. He understood why Prince Colchester needed her support in gaining traction for a possible peace treaty, but she did not even try to play along with the rules of the game.
"Why is she here, really?"
He drew his head from the clouds long enough to realize that the worsening moods between the delegates was detrimental to the goal of the peace talks. Why couldn't both sides recognize that all of this posturing was useless?
Ves felt something in the air. This standoff was building up to something. To what exactly, he couldn't figure out. He wasn't conceited enough to try and predict what Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester had in store for the stalled negotiations.
"Those two are absolutely not simple. They won't let this deadlock continue."
At some point, he received an invitation to attend an informal dinner with Colonel Xelven and a couple of military attachés.
Ves frowned at the message on his comm. "What does the colonel want with me?"
He attended the dinner that night at one of the largely-empty restaurants of Kester Hills. The original chefs did a great job turning freshly-imported ingredients into wonderful dishes.
During the occasion, Colonel Xelven grilled Ves on his impression of Venerable Foster.
"Do you believe she is a supporter of Prince Colchester?"
That was a difficult question for Ves to answer. "I think she's in his camp, but she doesn't care too much about politics. I think she's only aligned with Prince Colchester due to special circumstances. She's pro-war, but she cares too much about the Kingdom to let that get in the way of recognizing Prince Colchester's attempt to save them from a greater calamity."
The colonel swirled his glass of wine as he contemplated Ves' response. "I'm told she is rather direct as well, is that correct?"
"She's no diplomat. That's for certain. It's not an act either." Ves stated confidently. "However, she's also intractable for that reason."
Colonel Xelven looked disappointed. "You must work harder to break the ice with her. I'm sure you are aware of our current difficulties. We need every avenue at our disposal if we wish to break the ongoing deadlock in the negotiations."
If Xelven went as far as pushing Ves to achieve some sort of breakthrough in his attempts to get Venerable Foster to act cordially to him, then the situation was truly dire for the Tovar Peace Delegation!
"Are we about to give in, sir?"
"I can't comment on that, least of all here, Mr. Larkinson." The colonel said mildly. "Besides this, I also want to give you a warning. Don't wander off in or around Kester Hills. Something untoward might happen if you don't pay attention to your own safety."
Ves narrowed his eyes. What did that mean? The Honored Ones made sure that no one would attack the peace delegations. Who could possibly be so stupid to launch an attack on individual members?
He nodded regardless. "I'll be a bit more prudent in where I go. I haven't been wandering off very much in the first place."
"With hope, we will come to a satisfactory accord with the Vesians. We are not fooled by their inflated ambitions."
Everyone else agreed with that standpoint, though Ves wasn't sure if anyone truly believed it. The Vesian sabre-rattling spooked many Brighters, particularly the businessmen with lots of assets in Bentheim.
Will the Tovar Peace Delegation still be able to maintain a united front against the Vesian threats?
Chapter 1046
When Ves next met up with Venerable Foster at their usual courtyard, an attendant poured some tea for the both of them before drawing back to the sides.
"Why are you still agreeing to meet with me?" Ves asked. His patience was wearing thin after several more fruitless days of trying to get Venerable Foster to open up. "You obviously don't enjoy my presence."
The expert pilot huffed and raised her chin at him. "It has never been about befriending you. I am performing my duty here."
"And what exactly is your duty? Because it doesn't seem like you are trying to act cordially to me at all. Do you even care about the peace talks?"
"You're dangerous, Mr. Larkinson." Venerable Foster's burning eyes bore into his own. Her force of will pressed on his mind like a tsunami washing against a seawall. "Ever since I first met you at the ship, I knew there was something more about you. The events that took place there and your seemingly effortless escape makes me wonder if your current persona is a facade."
Ves smiled ruefully at her. "I'm a mech designer."
"You say that like it's a talisman that absolves you of all suspicion. No. You're more than that. I can feel it. There is a certain vibe about you that raises my hackles. Until I can expose you for who you really are, you'll remain within my sight. I won't allow you to wander off in order to manipulate my fellow Vesians with your duplicitous arguments."
What was her problem? Ves sighed in an exasperated manner and crossed his arms. Even if he partially agreed with her assessment, he was not some devious mastermind who meant any ill during the peace talks. He knew better than to pull off some shenanigans in such a sensitive time and place.
"No matter what you think of me, we are both part of our respective peace delegations. We're here in an attempt to make peace. Why can't you set aside our differences and focus on what we share in common instead?"
"Anyone who befriends a devious two-faced man like you will regret it." Venerable Foster declared with no uncertainty.
How could Ves ever worm his way into her shell when she was as prickly as a hedgehog? Her ostensible aim of keeping an eye on him lest he charmed her fellow Vesians sounded ridiculous.
Surprisingly, Foster asked a question of her own. One which did not include some sort of insult or accusation.
"I heard you are working on a design. I've noticed that you've been distracted lately as well. What are you working on that commands so much of your attention?"
Where she heard that, Ves didn't know, but it signified that the Vesians hadn't stopped in their endeavors to gather intelligence. Nonetheless, he was glad to take advantage of the opening Foster afforded him. Talking about mechs was a lot better than trading snide remarks!
Even so, Ves felt reluctant to reveal the details of his upcoming design. It was so sensitive and controversial that leaking it prematurely might lead to all kinds of negative outcomes. The Vesians would certainly make use of the information and turn it against him in order to sabotage his rise.
"I'm working on a space knight design." He said, sparing little details other than the mech type in question. "It's going to have a number of quirks, but it will essentially be a simple space knight at its core."
"A space knight, huh?" She wondered. "I have practiced with space knights, though I have never felt the inclination to dedicate myself in their use. There are other mech pilots who are able to perform much better than I ever will."
"Why not? Aren't you good at anything with your amazing talent and genetic aptitude? Or is it more about adopting the correct mindset?"
The latter made Venerable Foster surprised. "For a mech designer, you sure know what you are talking about. You are correct. Skill doesn't have anything to do with it. Piloting a knight mech, whether on land or in space, is easy to learn. It is not a coincidence that mech cadets begin their training by learning how to pilot a knight mech. Their slow, deliberate movements and their tolerance for damage and rough treatment makes them ideal platforms to get mech pilots acclimated to humanoid mechs."
"Yet not a lot of people end up specializing in piloting knight mechs."
Foster shook her head. "It is not a mech type which satisfies those who wish to fight proactively. A knight mech's main role is to act as a wall for their allies. However, the few people who stick with knight mechs and adopt the proper mindset of a protector can pull off amazing feats with their sturdy mechs. They are an admirable if melodramatic class of mech pilots."
Having experienced the perspective of a knight mech pilot first-hand, Ves understood her meaning. "Those chivalrous mech pilots can be a handful, but their hearts are in the right place. I would have thought that their mindset would be a good fit for your own."
"Perhaps in an earlier age, that would have made some sense. However, in the Age of Mechs, knight mech pilots are relegated to grunts. Mech pilots do not need to be particularly skilled to make good use of a knight mech, whether on land or in space. It is enough to know how to move and how to orient a shield at certain angles. There is a reason why expert pilots who specialize in piloting knight mechs are the rarest of us all."
There was a tone of admiration in her voice that Ves did not expect to hear. She exhibited genuine respect and admiration towards those who dedicated their lives to protecting their comrades.
Having worked out a super-medium mech concept for his vision for his upcoming design, Ves knew that his work would be beyond the realm of an average mech pilot.
While he predicted that all-rounders would still be able to pilot his Qilanxo-inspired mech with some effectiveness, they needed to endure a lot more burdens compared to piloting a more basic space knight.
In light of these complications, Ves reoriented his target audience away from casual mech pilots. Mech pilots specialized in piloting space knights would be able to appreciate the extra options Ves intended to add in his design.
Their mastery in the basics of operating a space knight insured that they wouldn't be unduly mentally encumbered when they worked with extra features. Making use of the limitless options the polarizing module provided to the mech had the potential to substantially increase the defensive prowess of the mech, but only if the mech pilot made the correct decisions!
If they recklessly activated an omni-directional polarizing field to defend against a volley of laser beams coming from a single direction, they'd be wasting the majority of the mech's limited energy reserves. A skilled space knight pilot would know how narrow they needed to configure the polarizing field to offer the most adequate level of defense while wasting as little energy as possible.
The more efficient the mech pilot made use of the polarizing module, the longer its protective effects lasted, thereby increasing its impact on the battlefield!
Thus, recognizing that his vision for his design would result in an advanced machine with a high skill floor and an astronomically high skill ceiling, Ves gave up on the large audience of all-rounder mech pilots.
Ves spoke again after a short pause. "Do you think knight mech pilots get a bad rap?"
"They are underappreciated." She responded. "It is like a group of children wanting to play hide and seek. Every child wants to hide but none of them wants to take the role of seeking them out. However, a game of hide and seek won't begin until they decide who gets to be the unlucky seeker."
"So the same dynamic goes on in most outfits?"
"Correct. Those who volunteer to pilot knight mechs are usually the least-skilled or least-regarded among them. I think it is a rather deplorable way to decide what is perhaps the most pivotal role in a unit."
"It's not necessarily a good idea to put the worst mech pilot in charge of the vital job shielding friendly mechs." Ves caught her logic. "However, regardless of what you think, it will happen anyway. Piloting a knight mech simply isn't popular enough."
Certainly, this wasn't universally the case. For example, Ves made sure that his Blackbeak mechs were a pleasure to pilot. While they did not perform their defensive roles as well as a defensive knight mech, the Blackbeak's high mobility and endurance opened up many options to enterprising mech pilots.
It helped that he positioned the Blackbeak as a premium mech model. More expensive mechs were always better regarded than more disposable mechs. This would also aid his next design to a certain extent.
"There's a lot of bad knight mech models for sale." Venerable Foster remarked. "Although I don't pay too much attention to the market, I've heard lots of complaints about the space knights that mech designers cook up in their labs."
"What's wrong with the models?"
"Their designers are too narrow-minded. Just because a space knight is meant to serve as a defensive bulwark doesn't mean they should be constrained to that role."
"You may have a point when it comes to offensive space knights, but defensive space knights are too slow to pull off advanced maneuvers."
"Who says you need to employ advanced maneuvers to pose a threat to an enemy?" Venerable Foster prodded back. "They don't need to be particularly fast or agile either. However, what they do need is power. Enough power to dent the hull of a starship. You can't believe how many mech designers neglect that space knights need a good amount of mechanical strength."
Ves admittedly hadn't thought too deeply about this issue. In fact, more than once, he contemplated reducing the space the artificial musculature took up in order to make more room for other features. After all, a slow and fat space knight wouldn't be entering into melee range very often, right?
"How important is it for a space knight to retain its strength in melee combat?"
"Very important." Foster replied. "Having the option to be a threat in close range serves to reassure mech pilots that they aren't impotent. Good space knight pilots and good mech commanders will find a way to position space knights in a position where they can leverage their strengths and defensive capabilities."
Her remarks gave Ves a lot of food for thought. While he had his Mastery of landbound knight mechs to lean upon to help him understand the mindset of his target audience, space knight pilots faced different concerns.
Vess needed to identify these differences and make the appropriate adjustments. Otherwise, he might make some missteps due to his mistaken assumptions!
"Thank you for illuminating me about space knights, Venerable Foster."
"I don't need your thanks." She acerbically replied. "It's not my intention to help you out. I just don't want you to mistreat mech pilots."
"What's it to you? Most of my customers will probably be mech pilots from the Bright Republic."
"I don't fear your mech designs." Venerable Foster grinned with a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes. "In fact, I want to see you succeed. I want you to sell your mechs as much as possible so that whenever I encounter them in battle, I'll do everything in my power to crush them completely and utterly."
"That is... quite some reason."
It figured that Venerable Foster only wanted to build him up so that she could personally tear down his works. She took an almost perverse pleasure at the thought of ruining his products in person.
Venerable Foster released a devious laugh before she abruptly wavered on her seat. "This.. something strange is happening.."
"What?"
"My body.. is not under control.."
A creeping sense of foreboding entered the courtyard. Ves hadn't quite adjusted to the sudden change.
"What is wrong with you?"
To the sides, the attendants present in the courtyard all collapsed and lost consciousness at the same time!
"Poison!" Foster declared and then turned her gaze at Ves. "You! How come you aren't affected! Is this your plot! Are you the culprit?!"
Ves quickly held up his hands. "Hey! I don't have anything to do with it! My body is resistant against poison, that's all! Just look at my face. Do I look like someone who would stab everyone in the back and ruin the peace talks?"
The expert pilot looked skeptical, but eventually made up her mind. "Kill me now if you are responsible. If not, go sound the alarm."
When Ves raised his comm and tried to send out an emergency call, the device failed to light up. It had been sabotaged!
"My comm is not working!"
This attack was more serious than everyone thought!
Chapter 1047
When Colonel Xelven warned him of the possibility of foul play, Ves put up his guard since then. Even so, he didn't believe that anyone would be able to pull off an attack with all of the security measures in place.
Surely the Honored Ones had everything in hand, right? Hundreds of exoskeleton soldiers patrolled the streets and facilities of Kester Hills.
Further out of sight, several mech companies from the Mech Corps, Mech Legion and the Honored Ones jointly patrolled the entire region and made sure no one would be able to sneak up to the retreat.
However, all of those precautions seemed moot as every single device shut down at once! More egregious than that, every single person in sight collapsed at the same time by some poison that all of the detectors failed to pick up in the air or in their water and food.
This was preposterously difficult to achieve! Ves knew that everyone had put their utmost effort into making this a secure venue, and for all of their precautions to fail so catastrophically indicated that the plot ran deep!
While Venerable Foster attempted to maintain consciousness, Ves walked over to the collapsed bodies of the attendants. The Reinaldan servants still breathed, but no matter how much Ves patted them, they didn't regain consciousness.
"They're not dead. Just out cold."
"Lethal poisons are much harder to slip by the detectors. They also draw too much attention." Foster uttered as she shakily climbed up to her feet. "I think.. my gene optimization treatments are helping me resist the effect. I'm surprised you are better off than me. Come here so I can lean on you. I can't move by myself at the moment."
As Ves approached the expert pilot, he was wary about coming too close. "Are you really convinced I am not involved?"
"I think if you are the actual culprit, you would have done something to me by now."
"Killing an expert pilot is no joke. You know the MTA will get involved if something untoward happens to you. I think that's one of the main reasons why the culprits merely tried to put us to sleep."
"I wouldn't put too much stock in their restraint. This action violates many agreements. Whoever is responsible is likely hiding their true identities."
Right now, they didn't know why everyone collapsed and why their electronics stopped working. Without functional comms, neither Ves or Venerable Foster would be able to call upon for help!
Ves and Foster recognized that this criss threatened both the Tovar Peace Delegation and the Colchester Peace Delegation. Right now, they finally managed to put their differences aside. It was more important to work together than to hold on to old hatreds.
When Ves supported Venerable Foster's body as she leaned on him, he tried not to become affected by her close proximity. The expert pilot in turn took notice of his ease of movement despite the additional burden. His muscles pressed against her body, allowing her to feel his underlying strength and body heat.
"For a mech designer, you are remarkably fit." She remarked.
"It's a souvenir from a previous adventure in the frontier."
"What a waste."
"I don't think so. It has helped me become immune to many poisons and diseases."
Whatever substance affected everyone must be very potent, because it even managed to affect Foster's physique despite going through several rounds of CFA gene optimization treatments.
As they stepped out of the courtyard and into the main streets of Kester Hills, they encountered an unnaturally silent village. The Honored Ones who ordinarily patrolled from place to place in their fully-enclosed exoskeleton armor all stood rigid in the open.
Ves and Foster approached a patrol of four frozen exoskeleton soldiers.
Ves knocked at the chest plate of one of them and furrowed his brows. "Their armor has been shut down. I bet the soldiers inside the shells are unconscious as well."
This was very serious. If even guards had been neutralized, who protected them all from attack?
"It figures." Venerable Foster sneered even as she continued to lean against Ves. "The Honored Ones are lazy and incompetent. We shouldn't have trusted them so much to provide security."
Ves did not entirely agree with her assessment. "Not all Reinaldans are the same. The Honored Ones assigned to guard us consists of their elites. They're a lot more diligent than you give them credit for. Our opponents are just a bit more sophisticated in comparison."
The eerie silence and the frozen suits got to him in a way. He nervously flexed his free hand, contemplating whether he should materialize the Amastendira. His other hand kept supporting Foster's body. Her body was hard, lean and muscular. Her proximity continued to distract him from his surroundings.
"Keep your head in focus!" Foster barked, having worked away some of the substances in her body. "This isn't the time for you to be absent-minded!"
"Where do you suggest we go? I think we should check up on Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester's temporary estates. We have a duty to see to the safety of our respective patrons."
"I think.. They'll be fine. Their individual security is very robust." Venerable Foster shook her head. She obviously hadn't heard about the near-disastrous pirate raid against the Tovar Peace Delegation. "We need to go to the center of this village and find some way of taking charge of the defenses. We're useless without weapons, armor and mechs."
Ves looked around the village and strained his ears for any sounds of fighting. He saw and heard nothing.
"Nothing seems to be happening."
"That doesn't mean anything. Perhaps the culprits are kidnapping some of our delegates. We need to arm ourselves before we can contemplate anything else. Checking up on our fellow delegates can wait."
He tentatively agreed with her course of action. Right now, it would take too long to check up on Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester, especially considering they occupied estates on the opposite ends of Kester Hills.
The conference chamber where the negotiations took place behind closed doors was situated very closely to the security center where the Honored Ones coordinated all of their patrols. It would be easy for Ves to check up on Colonel Xelven and all of the other main negotiators once he was finished with the security center.
As they walked the short distance to the center of the village, they encountered more and more frozen exoskeleton armors. Brighter and Vesian delegates also popped up from time to time. They all fell unconscious without exception.
When Ves studied their bodies, he noted that some of them were hybrids just like him. Underneath their human appearances, these members of high society hid scales, unusual coloration and other alien organs beneath their prim and proper clothes.
Even so, their added alien enhancements failed to protect them from the substance that put them all out cold!
As Venerable Foster leaned right next to Ves, she saw exactly what he looked out for. Frankly, she looked rather shocked at the frequency of alien traits.
"How come there are so many people who chose to go hybrid?"
Was she for real? Ves gazed at her face in close proximity and could see genuine puzzlement in her eyes. He lowered his irritation.
"I always suspected that a lot of powerful people are hybrids." He admitted. "It's kind of an open secret in high society. The advantages afforded by certain alien traits can give them an advantage over baseline humans."
"Yet at least half of them are hybrids! That is way more than I thought!"
Even Ves was momentarily surprised by the frequency of alien hybridization. The folly and pitfalls of reckless genetic modification were very well known. Even so, it appeared that many humans simply couldn't resist the temptation of blending their human genes with alien genes, thereby gaining a powerful boost in their Attributes as well as gain some unique alien traits.
Those with enough money could draw upon much higher quality gene mod templates which focused on enhancing their lifespan or increasing their mental attributes. Those were also the most delicate and prone to side effects, but those side effects could be mitigated to an extent as long as enough money was involved.
Ves shouldn't complain. He had inadvertently joined the club of hybrids and benefited from it, so he could not fault other humans from pursuing something similar.
It took some time for them to reach the center of the village. As they shuffled over to the entrance of the security center, they found the front gates to be locked. They tried to go around but found no other way to enter the facility.
Strangely enough, throughout their wandering so far, they encountered no hostiles at all. The eerie silence and lack of activity began to weigh heavier and heavier on their minds. What was going on?
"We won't be able to get into the security center unless we break in." Venerable Foster concluded. "Even if we manage to break in, all the gear and equipment are likely sabotaged as well. There's no point trying to get inside."
"Alright. Should we check up on the conference chamber?"
"We might as well. Aside from Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester, the lead negotiators are all important people. They are also at risk."
Ves continued to support Venerable Foster's weak body as they crossed over the street and entered the reception hall of the conference chamber. The gates that led into the main chamber was sealed shut. It would take considerable force to open them up manually.
Foster studied the obstacle preventing them from checking if anything happened inside. "These gates are too heavy for us to force open by our own strength. We need to force it open somehow."
Ves was pretty sure he could burn a hole through the solid gates with the Amastendira, but the last thing he wanted to do was brandish this weapon in front of a Vesian like Venerable Foster!
He looked around for another solution. He eventually settled upon the frozen ranks of exoskeleton soldiers. Their shuts had been shut down and the weapons in their grasp were inactive as well.
Yet that did not mean they turned into useless ornaments.
"These gates look formidable, but they're mainly big slabs of alloy. I think I can force an opening if I rig up an explosive device from the energy cells and batteries of those exoskeleton soldiers. Whatever sabotage deactivated their gear may have turned them inactive, but I doubt it touched their energy reserves."
"Do it. We need to get inside."
Ves put Venerable Foster's body down on the floor and approached one of the frozen armors. He had seen many models of exoskeleton armor, and understood their general layout and principles.
It wasn't easy to open up the section of their armor that granted access to the small energy cells that powered everything. However, by borrowing some nearby objects, he pressed and shimmied his way into opening the respective compartment after a few minutes of fiddling around.
He retrieved four energy cells designed specifically to power exoskeleton armor and put them aside.
"Is that enough?" Foster asked.
"If I can induce these energy cells to discharge their energy at once, the damage will be severe. I don't think it's enough to burn through those thick gates. I need at least a dozen energy cells."
Once he fidgeted with the other exoskeleton armors and retrieved the necessary amount, he began to link them up with metal wires he ripped off some kind of strange artwork in the hall.
When he placed his jury rigged explosive against the gates and activated the individual cells, he quickly ran away as they grew hot!
Ves picked up Venerable Foster in an unceremonious grasp and quickly ran outside! "Hang on, the explosion is going to be violent!"
BOOM!
A hot and fiery explosion scorched from behind, flashing Ves and Venerable Foster with a wave of heat!
As the dust of the explosion settled, the lingering heat still made it uncomfortable for Ves and Foster to get close. They waited for a couple of minutes for the immediate surroundings to cool off.
Venerable Foster looked impressed at the damage. "At least it worked."
""Sh." Ves said. "Do you hear that? Something is active inside."
Ves heard some murky sounds through the other side of the hole. It seemed that even as the rest of Kester Hills went silent, something was definitely going on inside the conference chamber!
Chapter 1048
When Ves rigged the energy cells he pried off the paralyzed exoskeleton armors to explode, he underestimated their explosive yield.
How could he know that the elite guards of the Honored Ones made use of high-capacity infantry-grade energy cells? Although not as exaggeratingly stuffed with energy as ultracompact batteries, these high-capacity energy cells stored at least fifty percent more energy in the same volume compared to a regular one?
Of course, their price was a lot more expensive as well. Normally, an infantry troop would ordinarily carry spares or resupply themselves when they ran out rather than use these high-capacity energy cells.
The enormous blast that broke the gates into the formal conference chamber did more than breach an opening. It also cracked the floor, flung debris everywhere, heated the surroundings to a dangerous degree and unleashed a concussive blast that would have walloped anyone standing in the reception hall or the conference chamber!
The lingering heat and toxins from the site of the blast made it rather dangerous to cross through the smoke obscuring the conference chamber. Ves needed to at least wait for some time before the safer parts of the ground looked cool enough to walk over. Just to be safe, Ves momentarily diverted to place a low bench over the affected ground to walk over.
"Do you hear that? What is that sound?" Venerable Foster puzzlingly asked. The weakness in her body still didn't allow her to walk by herself, forcing her to either sit on the ground or lean against Ves. She did not enjoy her moment of weakness. "If only the poison hasn't affected me so much!"
"You should be lucky you can stay awake and talk." Ves retorted as he peered his ears into the other side.
The obscuring toxic smoke blocked most of his vision and dampened most of the sounds from the conference chamber.
Ves didn't know whether he should wait outside for the smoke to fade or storm in and confront whatever went on inside.
"We should go in." Venerable Foster whispered as he leaned her against his body again. "If there are only friendlies inside, we should see if your improvised explosive injured them. If there are hostiles inside, this might be the time to take them out quickly."
"We don't have any weapons."
"The detonation was your weapon. Are you so weak that you can't finish off a human with your hands?"
Ves shrugged. Secretly, he held out his free hand behind his back and discreetly summoned the Amastendira. Whatever stuff was going on inside, he wouldn't go inside unarmed.
With his decision made, they climbed up the low bench and walked over it, sparing their expensive shoes and their feet from getting scorched from the cracked and irregular surface of heated stone and glowing gunk.
As they entered the massive vault-like chamber, the huge window from above illuminated the massive ring-shaped table in the center.
Right now, most of the delegates sitting at two distinct sides of the table were unconscious. Just like the people outside the chamber, they too had been affected by the poison slipped into their bodies.
Yet different from everywhere else, two people managed to retain their consciousness. Not only that, they spent their time awake fruitfully.
"Major Deborah Sanawn!" Ves uttered in shock.
"Lord Brennan of House Novien!" Foster exclaimed as well.
Major Deborah Sanawn served alongside Lieutenant Colonel Xelven as his second-in-command during this assignment. While Ves hadn't interacted with her much, he knew that Xelven considered her to be his protege within the Bureau of Sector Affairs.
As for Lord Brennan of House Novien, he was a cousin of Count Reginald of the same house. Count Reginald also served in the Mech Legion and acted as Colonel Xelven's counterpart during the negotiations. The count held Prince Colchester's direct trust, so in turn Lord Brennan should have been loyal to the prince in turn.
Yet what Ves and Venerable Foster encountered put the loyalties of the other pair into question. That was because they were sprawled close to the bodies of Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald!
Headless bodies!
"What have you done!?" Ves asked with horror.
The huge blast took Major Sanawn and Lord Brennan by surprise. Whatever they had been up to, they'd been rudely interrupted by the concussive wave that swept over their bodies and flung them a distance away from the two headless corpses.
"Look over there!" Foster weakly pointed with her chin. "They cut off the heads of our lead negotiators to smuggle them away!"
Flung into a different direction, a pair of transparent cages held two macabre heads locked in artificial sleep.
They were the heads of Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald!
The only reason why they looked asleep and not dead was the machinery hooked up in the neck portion. As long as oxygen and blood circulated through their heads, their brains and the valuable information contained within would still be retrievable!
The plot immediately became apparent to Ves. The true threat did not solely come from the outside. Regardless of how much Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester vetted the members of their delegation, they completely missed the treachery brewing within their third-in-commands!
"Don't move, Ves!" Major Sanawn yelled as she popped off the hand from her wrist to reveal an organic ballistic gun barrel within the exposed flesh! "I've read the reports! I know you are always armed! If you move that arm from your back, I'll shoot!"
Ves inwardly cursed to himself. He finally paid the price of showing off the Amastendira. How many people had access to those reports?!
The concussive blast that bowled over the traitors affected their coordination. The organic weapon implanted within Sanawn's forearm wavered in its aim, though not to the extent of missing the mark.
Lord Brennan apparently stood closer to the site of the blast because it took more time for him to regain his wits. Even so, soon he would be drawing out his own holdout weapon, doubling the danger Ves needed to face!
One way or another, he needed to resolve this matter quickly!
Yet as he rapidly went through his options, he wondered why Major Sanawn hadn't shot him yet. Why was she holding him at gunpoint? Even if her aim was rather shaky, her organic weapon surely possessed more shots, right?
Realization struck him as Venerable Foster breathed loud enough to tickle his ears. He immediately adjusted his grip on Foster so that she pressed to the front of his body. His forceful movement elicited an angry squawk from the weakened expert pilot.
"What are you doing, you brute?!"
Yet despite the movements, Major Sanawn didn't shoot.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" Ves grinned as he felt he regained some control during this crisis. "As long as you kill Venerable Foster, you know the MTA will investigate the matter. Not only will your life be forfeit, but your entire ploy will be exposed as well. I doubt your masters will want to draw the MTA's attention!"
The extent to which the MTA enforced their own laws always struck fear in the hearts of humans. Although Ves witnessed plenty of times that their intervention had waned to an extent, as demonstrated by the Skull Architect's continued survival in exile to the frontier, just the threat of MTA intervention was enough to stop Major Sanawn!
However, what Ves didn't count on was that Venerable Foster did not take kindly to being used as a human shield. She immediately squirmed in his grasp and weakly bashed her elbows against her captor.
"Unhand me, you foul Brighter! I am not a shield for you to block incoming fire!"
Ves tightened his grip over the angry expert pilot and tried to keep her in his grasp. Her lack of strength and leverage prevented her from harming him, though her thrashing grew increasingly violent, making it difficult for him to position her body to cover his own against Major Sanawn's organic weapon.
If there was one benefit to Venerable Foster's thrashing, Major Sanawn seemed slightly distracted by the spectacle. Even as Ves tried to wrangle the expert pilot's body in his tight grip, he hadn't missed her momentary lack of focus.
Chance!
Ves immediately wipped out his Amastendira from behind his back and fired a bright laser beam at medium power at Colonel Xelven's protege!
A bright flash of golden light engulfed the room as the laser barely missed Major Sanawn's form. Ves expected that his aim might be off, but the current configuration of the Amastendira burned for two seconds, enough for him to correct his aim. He flicked the muzzle of his laser pistol to the left, cutting through Major Sanawn's service dress uniform and the vulnerable body underneath!
The traitor instantly collapsed, half of her torso cut and burned.
Unlike Ves, Major Sanawn did not possess any convenient expert pilot to make him hesitate in firing!
"Shoot Lord Brennan as well!" Foster shouted, having calmed down in her grasp. She finally set her priorities straight. Though she still questioned where Ves whipped out such a big and powerful laser pistol, this was no time to ask questions. "He's going for a weapon as well I think!"
Ves calmly shot the Vesian third-in-command without any suspense. The man still hadn't recovered from the aftereffects of the explosion.
Only two people remained conscious in the conference chamber. A pair of laser-burned corpses joined the two headless corpses on the ground.
As blood, smoke and the smell of burnt flesh suffused the air, Ves still wondered what was going on here. The treachery of some of the most trusted people in Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester's delegation still stunned him to an extent.
"Do you hear that sound?" Foster called, turning his attention back to the increasingly growing noise suffusing the entire chamber. "It's accompanied by a vibration. It's coming from the ground. Something is tunneling below us!"
The hard tiles in the middle of the conference chamber already started to bulge from the tunneling machine about to breach the floor.
"This must be their escape route!"
"Ves! Take the two heads and bring us out! We have to go before the tunneling machine bores into the chamber!"
"There's not enough time." Ves quickly judged. "Besides, I can't bring you and two of those head boxes at the same time. I have a better idea."
Ves kept her within her grasp but also whispered a set of verbal commands to the Amastendira. He tweaked its power setting to maximum and turned its firing mode into a cutting beam.
He hoped that he made the direct decision.
Within seconds, the tiles in the center of the ring-shaped table bulged and broke. A narrow tunneling machine as wide as an aircar emerged from the opening.
It was one of the smallest tunneling machines Ves had ever encountered! Already, he could vaguely spot that its exterior consisted of sensor-dampening materials. Clearly, the narrow tunneling machine served a similar role as Calabast's stealth crawler.
The tunneling machine was meant to sneak into high security areas from below in order to extract a small number of agents or operatives in the field!
If there was one major weakness common to every vehicle focused on stealth or minimizing their sensor signature, it was that their exterior armor plating didn't hold up well against direct damage!
Even before the hatch of the tunneling machine opened up, Ves fired his Amastendira at full power! The cutting beam took only moments to sear through the armor of the machine damage whatever was inside!
Faint screams echoed from the opening as Venerable Foster witnessed the Amastendira's power at first hand through her squinting eyes!
"I knew there was more to you than a mech designer!" She yelled accusingly at Ves. "Who do you work for, really? Flashlight? Searchlight?"
She squirmed anew, and somehow managed to stumble out of his grip. As soon as Venerable Foster opened her mouth yet again, the half-crippled tunneling machine suddenly self-destructed!
Both of their bodies were flung away from the concussive shockwave released by the explosion!
Chapter 1049
The conference chamber fell into ruins. Rubble and debris from the self-destructed tunneling machine bombarded most of the space with dangerous fragments. The shockwave sweeping over the entire chamber flung the unconscious delegates and their seats backwards and against the walls!
Ves cracked open his eyes roughly a minute after the explosion. His resilient physique allowed him to recover faster than anyone else, not that most would be waking up anytime soon.
He threw his gaze at Venerable Foster's body. She suffered some cuts as some sharp pieces of metal debris brushed past her bodies. Other than that, she wasn't in danger of losing her life, so Ves quickly cast aside his worry.
Slowly but surely, he climbed back up to his feet. He spotted the Amastendira ripped from his grasp and thrown to the ground a few steps away from him. Ves concentrated on the weapon and caused it to dematerialize back into his Inventory.
"That's a handy trick."
He turned his gaze towards the middle of the conference chamber and spotted nothing but a broken and debris-strewn hole in the ground. Only fragments remained of what used to be a stealth-oriented tunneling machine.
Ves guessed that it would be impossible to gather any clues from the remnants. He shook his head at the awful sight but walked closer and peered into the hole.
"No sounds. No vibrations. I doubt another machine will come."
That gave him some relief. He had a feeling the conspirators did not employ any other assets for fear of discovery.
After tentatively concluding that a second tunneling machine wouldn't come up, he turned around and sought out the head boxes containing the cut-off heads of Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald.
The tunneling machine's self-destruction bounced the transparent boxes against the wall, causing them to land on skewed orientations.
Fortunately, it appeared the head boxes had been designed to be robust, as the machinery keeping the heads stuffed inside some sort of preservative liquid still worked normally as far as he could see.
The sight of them still creeped him out. Ves couldn't help but right their orientation.
"What is going on here?" He wondered.
Whoever masterminded this attack apparently didn't plan on killing everyone. Instead, they just wanted to put everyone asleep and render all equipment inactive so that they could extract two traitors bearing two valuable head boxes.
For some reason, the value of the information contained in the minds of Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald surpassed almost everything else in Kester Hills!
The only heads more valuable than the two were the heads of Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester.
"Have they been attacked as well?"
Even if they were, Ves doubted that the two VIPs would be so easy to take away. Senator Tovar would have definitely learned his lesson from last and intensified his security at the very least.
Just as he contemplated whether he should stick around or go check up on Senator Tovar's estate, Ves heard a vague noise coming from above. He looked at the skylight illuminating the chamber from above only to see several objects punching through!
Ves closed his eyes and shielded his face with his forearm. A series of thuds sounded from the middle of the chamber as a small squad of exoskeleton soldiers bore their weapons in each direction.
Two of the soldiers noticed that Ves was still conscious. "FREEZE!"
"Hey, I'm on your side!"
"DON'T MOVE!"
Ves did as commanded as the newcomers swept and secured the entire chamber as well as the reception hall and other side rooms. He sighed in relief as he read their markings.
The heavily-armed exoskeleton soldiers that just arrived hailed from the 1st Adamant Fists of the 3rd New Foundation Division of the Mech Corps. Ves faintly heard more noises in the air from the holes in the skylight. More reinforcements arrived from above.
It was a given that the Honored Ones and the others took notice of the blackout that engulfed Kester Hills.
The conspirators timed their operation precisely. If everything went according to plan, then the treacherous Major Sanawn and Lord Brennan would have just made it off with the head boxes by jumping into the stealthy tunneling machine!
"Is this really the extent of their plan?"
For all the elaborate planning and preparation, Ves again doubted whether they went through all this trouble just to steal away two heads.
"Even so, with those two heads, they can do much."
Both Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald served as the lead negotiators on behalf of their respective patrons. They knew almost as much as Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester, but enjoyed much less security.
Anyone plotting to keep the war going would be able to dig up a wealth of information from their heads. They could easily use their gains to figure out everything the peace advocates had in mind, thereby allowing them to undermine any subsequent attempts at forging an early peace!
If this was the main plan of the conspirators, then Ves had to admit it was clever and exceedingly well-executed. They probably had several more men on the inside to facilitate such an extensive range of sabotage. They encompassed not only the Brighters and Vesians accompanying the peace delegations, but also the supposedly neutral Honored Ones as well!
This conspiracy certainly ran deep!
While the exoskeleton soldiers of the Adamant Fists secured the conference chamber, more armed soldiers arrived from the Vesians and the Honored Ones. The Reinaldans arrived last, of course, but they worked twice as hard in order to make up for their many inadequacies.
The reinforcements took away the two head boxes as well as their damaged and bleeding corpses. The bodies might be salvageable if they revitalized them. At the very least, they offered a good baseline for cloning new bodies for the decapitated heads to house themselves on. Such procedures no longer confounded modern medical science.
After some time, the new arrivals managed to get the security center back online. As they worked away the sabotage, other soldiers took Ves, Venerable Foster and every other member of the delegation into an underground infirmary built underneath the security center.
Naturally, the suspicious soldiers also kept an eye on them in case they posed a threat.
Ves merely shrugged at the somewhat rough and unfriendly treatment. Having been subject to similar situations, he knew better than to take it to heart. The soldiers were just doing their jobs after the Honored Ones and everyone else dropped the ball. Again.
His faith in security dropped by another notch. No matter how many precautions someone took, there was always a way to disable or circumvent them as long as you had a man on the inside.
The soldiers set every member of the delegation aside and locked them in their own rooms while their investigators sorted out the mess.
After roughly half a day, the door opened up. Ves quickly shot to his feet at the sight of Senator Tovar himself!
The old man waved aside his heavy guards before commanding the door to be shut. "Ves. I suppose we have you to thank for saving Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald. This latest attack is far more devious and extensive than we have ever expected."
A thousand questions swirled in Ves' mind. He was so tired and harried about what just happened that he didn't bother to dress up his words.
"What is going on, senator?"
The senator looked a little reproachful. "I suppose you do deserve an explanation after all you have done for us. This will take some time."
Camden Tovar calmly stepped forward and sat on a spare seat meant for guests. "When Prince Colchester and I initially came into contact to organize the peace talks, we quickly received indications that certain elements within our states are aware of what we wish to accomplish. It is very hard to keep a secret in this day and age. The only way we can deal with this problem is to accept that our enemies will not sit still and act accordingly."
"You mean... you knew we'd be attacked?"
"We knew." Senator Tovar nodded lightly. "In fact, Kester Hills is not as barren and peaceful as you thought. We had many more mechs and soldiers in reserve in the periphery of this retreat, ready to spring into action if anything went amiss."
"Nothing happened for a long time after everyone fell unconscious."
"We made some mistakes. Our backup forces fell under the same sabotage that befell Kester Hills. While our fleets in orbit quickly found out that something went wrong, it took time for them to deploy reinforcements to the surface."
"It's because of Major Sanawn and Lord Brennan, right?"
"Correct. Prince Colchester and I trusted our respective people. Both have served as loyal retainers for a very long time that it is almost unimaginable that they would betray us so. Major Sanawn... how long has she worked for Ramza Family?"
Ves raised his eyebrow. "How do you know she worked for the Ramza Family?"
The senator smiled at that moment. "Prince Colchester and I kept a close eye on our most likely domestic opponents to act against our initiative. Within the Bright Republic, it has always been the Ramza Family that stood against my Tovar Family. Now, we have gathered enough clues and circumstantial evidence to pin this event to the Ramzas!"
"That is.. great?"
There must be a reason why Senator Tovar mentioned the Ramza Family besides informing Ves that they identified one of the masterminds. Was the senator attempting to ruin Ves' impression of the Ramzas so that he would grow closer to the Tovars?
As suspicions welled up in his mind, Ves voiced some of the thoughts he formed during his time of rest in the underground infirmary.
"Regardless of your plans to catch the conspirators in the act, I think it isn't a coincide that Venerable Foster and I have been brought along."
"Oh? For what it's worth, Ves, I really do appreciate you and your uncanny ability to survive various perils."
"I think that's the main reason why you brought me along, right?" Ves asked with his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I have a track record of that. You also know my secret weapon by now. It's a weapon that's nearly impossible to hack."
The old man smiled genially at Ves, as if he was a grandpa smiling at a grandchild for impressing with a childish antics.
Ves pressed on. "Something similar must have prompted Prince Colchester to include Venerable Foster in his delegation. As a promising expert pilot who has a decent hope of advancing to ace pilot, she's not just valuable to the Vesia Kingdom, but also to the MTA. No one in their right mind would want to harm a single hair on her when she's outside the cockpit. As long as she resides in Kester Hills, the conspirators aren't able to wipe us all out by throwing an artificial meteorite on the village or something."
"That is very clever of you." Senator Tovar chuckled. "Indeed, expert pilots are just as valuable off the battlefield. Prince Colchester isn't the first person to take advantage of the MTA strictures and he won't be the last. Expert pilots are one of the most valuable bodyguards in the galaxy. I believe Secretary Lowe once described the two of you as wildcards. That is exactly what you and Venerable Foster are. Both of you complicate the plans of our enemies by your presence alone."
Calling them wildcards was a generous way of describing them as pawns. In both cases, the person holding the cards or pawns called the shots.
Realizing that he'd been used in this fashion left a foul taste in his mouth. Even so, Ves knew better than to express his dissatisfaction. What was done was done, and Ves already sided with the Tovar Family anyway.
"So what now, senator? Have we at least gained something out of this mess?"
Camden Tovar smiled brightly. "Now, the real negotiations begin."
Chapter 1050
Once Kester Hills got over the attack, the peace talks slowly resumed. Most people affected by the poison recovered without any complications. All of the sabotaged equipment had either been patched up or replaced with more secure gear.
Security practically tripled overnight. Mechs openly patrolled in the outskirts of the retreat without any concern of distressing the members of the delegations with their close proximity.
Frankly, the presence of mechs reassured them. They were much more difficult but not impossible to sabotage, as demonstrated previously when men on the inside scrambled their operating systems.
The Honored Ones were still rooting out the units assigned to secure Kester Hills for treacherous agents.
Even though the peace talks suffered a major interruption that almost threatened to break them off entirely, the negotiators who resumed the negotiations didn't act very reserved despite the absence of their former leaders.
Not everyone knew what exactly happened Colonel Xelven and Count Reginald. Only a couple of people included Ves knew that their decapitated heads had been brought back to a specialized Reinaldan medical facility elsewhere on Harkensen II to attach them back onto healthy bodies.
Even with the best care the Reinaldans could offer, it would take at least a couple of months to to insure a complete and healthy reattachment.
As for Ves, he mostly spent his time in his quarters brooding by himself. He wanted some alone time to clear his mind and go over recent events.
Besides, it wasn't as if Venerable Foster wanted to meet him anymore. Ever since he used her as a human shield and surprised her with some of his tricks, she no longer wanted to hang out for him for some reason.
Ves chuckled to himself. "Of course she hates me now. Not that it's any different from before."
This didn't really result in any consequences to him. Ves had the feeling that he had served his use in the delegation. He was a spent card, and so was Venerable Foster. His previous obligation of trying to connect with the Vesians seemed like a giant joke in hindsight. The senator never brought him along to make friends with the Vesians in the first place.
"I'm merely a wildcard who can be put into play when every other card is neutralized."
Senator Tovar kept the rest of his cards close to his chest, revealing little to Ves. This prompted him to spend his time in contemplation by guessing what kind of scheme the senator and prince were running.
"Both of them are aware that they drew the attention of enemies within their own states." Ves observed. "They made several precautions while they waited for their enemies to make a move."
He made another important observation. Though Ves mostly stayed in his quarters, he did hear some gossip every now and then when he went out to eat. The negotiators quickly came to an agreement on the intractable Bentheim issue. It only took two days after the attack for them to settle for a compromise that forced the Bright Republic to concede a small but unspecified amount of tax revenue to the Vesia Kingdom for the next decade!
"Before the attack, the peace talks have stalled for several weeks without a solution in sight. How can they get over their differences so easily all of a sudden?"
By now, the negotiators already moved on to finalizing the issue of settling the ownership of dozens of star systems in the border regions. The brisk pace discomforted everyone, but some were glad that they wouldn't be forced to stick around for months.
Ves had the feeling that everything that happened before was theater in a sense. The threats and ultimatums flinging in every direction served to give the mistaken impression that the Brighter and Vesian peace delegations didn't get along.
"If the conspirators struck during this tenuous period, they can easily deflect the blame to the peace delegations."
The peace talks would certainly break under a tide of mutual accusations and suspicion. It didn't matter at that point if they believed that others were behind the attacks.
However, the conspirators made two mistakes.
First, they didn't completely account for the wildcards in play. Venerable Foster's presence limited many convenient options. Ves' presence spoiled the key part of their elaborate operation.
The second mistake was that they made a move when Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester specifically stared at their domestic enemies. Ves threw out a guess that Flashlight kept an eye on the Ramza Family and other powerful families and organizations within the Bright Republic.
However much Ves found Flashlight to be abhorrent, he did not doubt their competence. No matter how much the others hid their actions, once Flashlight put their mind to it, they got what they wanted.
Once Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester identified their foes and gathered evidence of their misdeeds, they abandoned the puppet show that previously took place. The glacial pace of the peace talks abruptly entered into a sprint, and it looked as if a peace treaty might be formed by the end of the week!
The depth of thinking behind the senator and the prince astounded Ves. "Their plotting is first-class! While everyone was thinking three moves ahead at most, they were thinking six moves ahead!"
What Ves speculated so far only formed the tip of the iceberg regarding the depth of Tovar and Colchester's plans. The peace talks only formed one component of their master plan.
So far, Ves did not think this plan merely aimed to achieve a momentary peace between the Bright Republic and Vesia Kingdom. The two old men were laying the groundwork for something much larger.
Right now, Ves was too far removed from power to even make a guess of what the endgame would look like. What grand design did these two statesmen have in mind for their respective states?
Ves shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm just a mech designer."
A mech designer with a special gun, but a mech designer nonetheless. As long as Senator Tovar gave him his bag of rewards and sent him off, Ves was fine with whatever the devious old geezer plotted behind everyone's backs.
The more time Ves spent under Tovar's thumb, the more he realized he was out of his depth. Old fossils like Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester thought and schemed on an entirely different level than normal people. The closer Ves got to them, the higher the chance of getting pulled into another dangerous scheme!
If there was one benefit to the brisk peace talks, it was that Ves saw actual hope in an early end of the war. From the way negotiators agreed on every point and how the Brighter and Vesian members of the delegation bonded over their shared experiences, the impetus to achieve peace was never stronger!
In fact, one of the main reasons why both sides wanted to achieve peace so badly was to spite the conspirators who plotted against them. It was incredibly frightening and discomforting to be laid low so utterly and completely.
"The warmongers overplayed their hand." Ves remarked.
While Ves didn't know how exactly Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester held the known conspirators to account, it was evident that they no longer feared their opposition that much.
After some time, Professor Ventag finally dropped by his quarters one evening.
"My apologies for my extended absence, Ves. The negotiations picked up so much speed that I've been swamped with work."
"I understand, professor. You have better things to do than pay me a visit."
"Come now, Ves. Don't discount yourself. I heard that you stopped going out since the attack. Are you suffering from any physical and mental repercussions? I can call for specialized aid if you need the assistance."
Ves shook his head. "No, I'm fine. It's just... you know that Colonel Xelven almost got his head carried away. I'm glad I was in a position to stop that, but how can the situation devolve to such an extent that every security measure in place to prevent this attack failed so completely and utterly?"
"Our detractors are numerous and powerful." Professor Ventag remarked. "Their means are just as elaborate if not better than what we have at our disposal. The only way that Senator Tovar can outplay them is to outwit them. It is not a coincidence that while Kester Hills is heavily secured, it did not offer as much security as we do now."
"Are you suggesting that Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester intentionally set us up as bait?"
The professor calmly crossed his arms. "I am not making any claims here. You should be careful of what you say here, lest you be accused of slander."
Ves glowered at that. Obviously, he couldn't just say that the two old men put their delegations which consisted of some of the most powerful and influential military officers, government officials, bureaucrats and academics at risk just to mislead their enemies and to entice them into action.
"The key point here is that we have managed to advance our interests at the expense of our detractors without paying a major price." The Senior continued. "The balance between the supporters of peace and the supporters of war is no longer tilted against us. No matter how much people disagree with Senator Tovar's intentions, it does not change the fact that he carries an official sanction directly granted by the highest officials of the state. To resort to foul play against an official government initiative is already bad enough. To be caught in the act is worse."
There was a hidden implication in the professor's words that Ves picked up with his suspicious mind. "From the way you refer to the government, you don't just mean that they're paying lip service to the notion of peace, right? The bright president and the cabinet must be fully behind it, belying the previous impression that only a handful of people know about this initiative!"
"Do you think the bright president is stupid?"
"No." Ves shook his head. "You don't get to be the boss of the Bright Republic by being stupid."
"With what you know so far, do you think the bright president would be rational enough to recognize the merits of peace over war? What about his cabinet?"
"If they are as clever as they ought to be, they shouldn't be so obsessed about the war and prejudiced against the Vesians to insist on continuing the fighting." Ves observed with greater clarity. "The support for peace isn't as weak as you initially painted. In fact, there should be a substantial amount of support behind it as long as the reasons behind it are compelling."
Ventag smiled and nodded. "That is what we all hope. An important point to take note is that the detractors of the peace talks are also aware of the threat to their interests. They know that if they don't do anything, the peace treaty might become accepted by the two states and go in force. I'll spare you the details, but the outcome of this incident has forced them to curb any subsequent actions."
"What does that mean for us, then?"
"It means that peace is very likely, Ves. Once our negotiators agree on the terms of the peace treaty, the official signing of it can be done in a matter of weeks."
Ves didn't hold much hope for peace before the incident. Peace seemed very far away due to irreconcilable differences between the Brighters and Vesians. Yet now those assumptions seemed laughably off the mark.
For a moment, he felt lost. He only spent a couple of years in military service, but already he felt like he survived a lifetime of war. His memories of his experiences before the war paled in comparison to the perilous but unforgettable missions he took part in. The war shaped both his design philosophy and his attitude towards life.
What would he do once he returned to civilian life as a changed man? Would he miss the excitement, and crave for more? Or would he be able to find the peace he lost as he was constantly subjected to danger?
Whatever the case, peace didn't sound so bad.
