The Mech Touch

Work on the Militant Soldier and the Peaceful Soldier projects continued at a rapid pace. Ves and Gloriana both wanted to complete the projects quickly so that they could divert their time to more fruitful pursuits.

Designing the Militant Soldier went smoother than Ves initially expected. Ves and Gloriana were already practiced with overhauling the Desolate Soldier design to accommodate different needs.

Though the Holy Soldier and the Prideful Soldier required relatively little work, the Resentful Soldier required a lot of extensive overhauls.

All of this work allowed the two to accumulate an even greater degree of familiarity with the Desolate Soldier design. Nothing was a mystery to them anymore. They not only understood what the mech was capable of, but also knew how far they could push it in different directions.

Furthermore, the two also developed a thorough understanding of each other's design styles. Since they no longer wasted any more time on exploring different methods, they achieved greater progress than before.

All of this meant that their productivity had practically soared.

An extra bonus was that Ves knew the properties of the military components he picked out by heart. Having worked with them extensively in real wartime conditions, he was well aware of their individual quirks and traits.

The result of these factors was that the Militant Soldier project progressed a lot more smoothly than either of them anticipated.

It was only until they began to tackle the Peaceful Soldier project that they began to encounter obstacles.

"It's not that straightforward to convert a spaceborn design to a landbound design." Gloriana noted. "Practically every component has to be switched."

"According to the requirements set by MinDef, we'll have to design the Peaceful Soldier using component designs commonly used by the Planetary Guard organizations. They have their own set of licenses and technical standards."

As Ves and Gloriana began selecting components from a limited catalog, they had a harder time making their choices.

"I'm not familiar with these parts." Ves sighed in disappointment.

"It's okay. I don't expect you to be all-knowing, Ves. It's normal for mech designers to start with completely unfamiliar component designs. We'll slowly understand them better as we integrate them into our mech design."

Once they began to draft and envision the Peaceful Soldier, they quickly fell into a routine.

The main challenge was to translate the Desolate Soldier into a viable landbound mech. Since the base model was fairly simple to begin with, this did not entail too many complicated transformations.

In particular, the removal of the flight system freed up a lot of capacity. Though Ves had to reserve much of the freed capacity towards accommodating the varied weapon systems and external backpack modules of the mech, he also made good use of it to empower the Peaceful Soldier's mobility.

The original Desolate Soldier mainly relied on its flight system to traverse space, so its legs and mech engine were very weak and underpowered.

Remedying this problem demanded completely new solutions that Ves and Gloriana hadn't employed in other projects.

"Mobility is very important to police forces." Gloriana taught Ves. "In populated settlements, mechs are often spread out over large areas. When an incident takes place that requires the intervention of mechs, the police have to respond as fast as possible. Aside from deploying aerial mechs, your Planetary Guard also seems to favor light and fast-moving medium mechs."

"You're right." Ves thought about the Planetary Guard mechs he observed on Bentheim. "I've never seen the Planetary Guard deploy a heavy mech."

"That's because they're too slow to respond to incidents and too destructive to deploy in urban districts. They're also a strain on the budget."

Ves continually nodded at her insightful words. "How do you know all of this?"

His girlfriend bumped him with her elbow. "Have you forgotten my mother's position? She's the Planetary Minister of Security of Scimitar II! She ordered me to customize several law enforcement mechs over the years! While the mechs I've worked on are a lot more advanced than the ones employed by the local Planetary Guard, the priorities are still the same. Just leave this matter to me, Ves!"

Recalling what Constance Wodin did for a living caused his body to shudder. For some reason, Ves deeply dreaded meeting Gloriana's mother.

His fears notwithstanding, Gloriana's personal experiences with working on law enforcement mechs came in very handy this time.

The Peaceful Soldier project progressed almost as rapidly as the Militant Soldier project.

In addition, just as Ves expected, working on multiple projects at the same time gave them more time to think on difficult issues.

If they ever encountered a problem they weren't sure about, they could simply halt the current project and work on the other one until they came up with a solution that wasn't immediately apparent.

The only thing that could make their cooperation better was if they had more help around. Hiring additional mech designers became a higher and higher priority to Ves. In fact, he already obtained permission to pick up a couple of refugees and offer them a job at the LMC.

"Let's go visit some of the refugee settlements tomorrow." He suggested. "It turns out that there are a number of mech designers mingled among the refugees. Most of them are worthless, but there are a couple of people who stand out."

"Really?" Gloriana frowned.

"Really. I'm not talking about students or failed mech designers here."

During the chaotic fall of the border states, a lot of people got mixed up. Even an Apprentice Mech Designer with a lot of money could barely obtain passage on an overcrowded cargo ship that had hastily been converted into an evacuation vessel.

As Ves worked on the variants and planned his upcoming recruitment trip, he also made sure to spend some time with others.

Though Gloriana always demanded attention, Ves still needed to make the rounds every now and then. Even if nothing required his attention, merely waving the flag did wonders in motivating others.

He deliberately paid a visit to the Battle Criers one day. He'd been neglecting the outfit lately ever since they arrived at Cloudy Curtain.

It wasn't hard to see why. The Living Sentinels were more than enough to protect the assets of the LMC while the Avatars of Myth had an easy time protecting Ves since he mainly spent his time at the Mech Nursery and his Cloud Estate.

When Ves visited the newly-erected base of the Battle Criers met up with Commander Cinnabar, the Kinner bondsman privately aired the complaints of his men in his office.

"Our men didn't sign up to sit on their thumbs. We've already received our batch of Desolate Soldiers from your mech company and we've had more than enough practice to get the hang of this new mech model. When will you send us into battle?"

"Are you that eager to fight?"

"We're born for battle. You know that."

He knew. In fact, he also knew that Cinnabar likely meant that literally.

Ves leaned forward and placed a data chip on the commander's desk. "Sorry for the wait. Here are your orders."

Cinnabar eyed the data chip with suspicion.

"Why do I feel as if you intend to do more than dispatch us to the front?"

"Fighting the Battle Criers is just a distraction." Ves pressed his fingers together. "What I really want your men to do is to hunt down a couple of individuals."

"We're not bounty hunters, sir. We don't specialize in tracking down people."

"I'll introduce you to a contact who developed an extensive information network throughout this region. You'll have all the information you need."

"Can you tell me who exactly you want us to hunt?"

"You can read that for yourself. The data chip has all the instructions you need, commander."

"Do you want us to bring in your targets alive or dead?"

"Preferably alive, but don't take too many risks. It's fine if you have to resort to killing them. Just bring proof and make sure to destroy the brains."

Cinnabar nodded after taking the data chip and slipping it into his uniform pocket. "We'll carry out your orders as best we can. With the Sand War heating up, a lot of outfits are moving around. Our movements won't attract too much attention."

"Good to hear."

The two discussed some details about their missions. This wouldn't be the last time Ves intended to dispatch the Battle Criers to run a dirty errand.

Though Ves could have issued a request to Calabast or her C-Men, it was better if he could rely on his own forces to deal with certain matters.

"As long as you complete my errands without issue, then I'll entrust you with more important missions. You'll all be eligible to participate in the training to become second-class mech pilots."

"We'll fulfill your orders to the best of our ability, sir!" Commander Cinnabar replied fervently!

Even Kinners lusted after piloting second-class mechs. Ves found that dangling this reward in front of mech pilots proved to be an extremely effective means of motivating his mech pilots.

Once they finished discussing various matters, Commander Cinnabar showed Ves around. They visited various facilities and looked at the new batch of silver label Desolate Soldiers that had just arrived from the Mech Nursery.

Even when they were dormant, their strong duty-oriented auras impacted every Kinner.

Not that they needed more devotion to their duty. Their loyalty and willingness to work for the person who bought them out had already reached an extreme. The actual effect of the auras only marginally increased their conviction.

Among the group of off-duty Battle Criers milling about, Ves immediately recognized a familiar face.

Wearing the brown-and-red uniform of a mech pilot of the Battle Criers, Dietrich already managed to worm his way into their ranks.

Regardless of whether he was the only foreigner among the Kinners, the former heir to the Whalers already treated his fellow Battle Criers as brothers.

"Looks like your latest recruit is already fitting in." Ves smiled at the sight.

Commander Cinnabar smiled as well. "Mr. Kotz here is a welcome surprise. He's not as stuck up as Casella and Imon Ingvar, for one. He has never looked down on us even once, which isn't a surprise considering what we managed to find out about him. He's also a decent leader. If you ever want to expand the Battle Criers, then I suggest putting him in charge."

That sounded surprising to Ves considering that Dietrich lost control over the gang he was supposed to inherit after his father's death.

"How is he a good leader?"

"Oh, he isn't suitable to run an entire outfit like me, but he'll make for a fine mech officer after a couple of years of seasoning. He just needs to get up to speed on how to run a mech unit."

"Make sure to guide him as best as possible." Ves instructed. "Dietrich is a friend of mine, so I want him to succeed. Make sure not to go easy on him. One of the reasons why he suffered a huge setback is because he's been far too complacent. Some pressure will do some good in drawing out his potential."

"That's what I think as well."

Once the two approached the group of mech pilots, the Battle Criers quickly stood up.

"Sirs!"

"How are you doing, Dietrich?"

"I quite enjoy it here. I feel right at home with the Battle Criers."

"That's good. I've just handed over some tasks to the Battle Criers, so you'll probably be on your way soon. Are you okay with leaving Cloudy Curtain?"

Dietrich shrugged. "I don't care. While this planet is still my home, it doesn't belong to me anymore. The Cloud Whalers have made it more than clear that it's their turf now. Maybe leaving this mess behind will help me get over what has happened to me since my father failed."

"I hope you can find your way again with the Battle Criers."

"I hope so as well. I didn't imagine myself working for you, but now that I am.. I kind of enjoy it. It's a very welcome change not to be in charge of everything for once."

The lost tone in Dietrich's voice revealed that he still had much to go before he was actually ready for a senior leadership position.