The Mech Touch

Ves actually became so concerned at all the Ylvainans joining the fleets of the Avatars and Sentinels that he decided to take a look in person.

Together with Nitaa, Lucky and his bodyguards, he took another shuttle trip to orbit where he stopped by some of the ships.

The brand-new light carriers weren't very impressive to Ves. They possessed the same level of performance as the Greenfeather and Redfeather. In fact, in some areas, they were even worse!

His forces didn't have any choice, though. With the supply of materials curtailed and prices ballooning by as much as an order of magnitude, shipyards were only able to supply their customers with their cheaper offerings!

The persistent lack of combat carriers within his fleets had always been a sore point for Ves. The only way for him to make up for this shortcoming was to leave the war-stricken regions and head to a more stable and prosperous region.

The greater the chaos, the greater the demand for ships!

No one wanted to be stuck on a planet when doom approached the star system. The Sand War already showed how fatal it could be for people to lack an escape route!

When Ves met up with some of the captains and key crew of his new ships, he came across a lot of very enthusiastic Ylvainans!

"It's an honor to work for you, Bright Martyr."

"I have dreamt of serving a Martyr Follower for all my life. It is a great pleasure to captain one of your ships with the Great Prophet's blessing!"

"Sir! I have made a vow to devote my entire service to you! Prophet Ylvaine himself has willed us to be at your disposal!"

The reactions of every Ylvainan he met sounded similar. No matter where he walked, the spacers around him paused and bowed with utmost sincerity towards him. They literally believed that he was one of Prophet Ylvaine's agents in the mortal realm!

Ves tried his best to maintain a pleasant facade. Inwardly, he either groaned or cringed. There had been no attempts at all to curtail the Ylvainan's expressions of faith within his fleet.

Perhaps the only compromise the new Ylvainan ship crews had made was to keep the interior of the ships neutral. Unlike other Ylvainan ships, there weren't any shrines or religious artwork dedicated to their faith in the corridors or public compartments!

In order to coordinate the growing number of carriers and support ships across all of the mech forces, the position of fleet coordinator came into being.

Not quite an admiral, but more than a fleet commander, a fleet coordinator essentially oversaw the fleets and kept them organized at the higher level without exercising direct command.

No Larkinson could fulfill that position. It was difficult to hire Brighters with this level of knowledge, training and experience.

The only choice to fill this position was to resort to an Ylvainan!

By some strange reason that seemed more deliberate than accidental, a very senior ship officer of the Kronon Dynasty just happened to be available.

Fleet Coordinator Ophelia Kronon possessed a long and storied record. She was an 80-year old matron who had commanded military ships and fleets for many decades with distinction. Due to her long service, she had plenty of time to develop her management and administrative skills.

What this meant was that she was exactly the sort of person his enterprise needed to organize the higher-level command and control structure of his fleet assets.

Working with both the Avatars, Battle Criers and Sentinels, Fleet Coordinator Ophelia already achieved a lot of results since she came into power.

Most notably, she shuffled around spacers so that the distribution of critical personnel became more even. No ship was lacking in chief engineers and senior officers!

The old but driven fleet coordinator also leaned on logistics to hasten the delivery of essential supplies! Without these necessities, the combined fleet would only be able to subside in space for a month before encountering critical shortages. This was a very precarious situation to be in, so Ves was very thankful that Ophelia took care of these issues!

When Ves met with Ophelia aboard one of the new Ylvainan-produced light carriers, he already developed some expectations of what he heard.

From most accounts, Ves figured that Ophelia was similar to Colonel Lowenfield. Both were women who were appointed to clean up a mess. Both of them excelled in this aspect, though their battle experiences and crisis leadership were not as solid.

Ophelia was a Kronon however, and every Kronon was a soldier. Despite her age, the old woman exuded a sense of command and experience that couldn't be faked!

"Madame Kronon. I am pleased to meet you. I appreciate what you have done so far in wrangling my growing fleet. Keeping my ships and spacers from running into each other must be an exhausting chore."

"The worst will pass, sir." Ophelia replied with respect. "Within a single month, our fleets should be ready to embark on a lengthy journey."

The two discussed the state of the organizing fleets before Ves was satisfied with what he heard. Even though the new personnel still had to settle into their jobs and the ships still showed a lot of teething issues, most of these problems could be dealt with during the journey.

If some sort of crisis occurred that compelled them to evacuate, then they could still flee the star system as long as they left some assets behind. The new carriers and other ships would still remain liabilities though.

All of that was important but not really interesting to Ves. As a mech designer, fleets and naval vessels never held his interest for long. He much preferred to talk about mechs!

That said, Ves was also interested in Ophelia as a person. As long as she remained hale and healthy, she would probably be his most senior fleet officer for the foreseeable future! Developing an accord and understanding with her was essential!

"You don't seem as.. zealous as the other Ylvainans about your new employer."

The woman nodded. "I am a Kronon. My faith is my duty. My duty is faith."

"What does that mean?" Ves scratched his head in puzzlement.

"It means that it is not helpful for me to act as your worshipper. I applied to work for you because the Great Prophet has shown me that you lack a fleet coordinator. Since I have been brought on to manage your growing fleets, then that is what I should address. Anything else is secondary and unneeded."

"That sounds very logical."

He didn't expect that from an Ylvainan. Then again, Ophelia appeared to be a trueblood Kronon, which meant she was like a religious version of a Larkinson!

If the Kronon Dynasty was filled with brainless zealots, then how could the Kronons get anything done?

"We Kronons have learned it was best to separate our faith from our responsibilities. While I am an Ylvainan and allow my faith to guide my choices, I should never let that get in the way of my duty. The Protectors of the Faith must protect before they can exercise their faith."

"I see. Well, I'm very glad to hear that." Ves nodded while stroking Lucky's back. "Please keep in mind that my enterprise, which includes the LMC and all of my mech forces, will not adhere to any single faith or culture in its entirety. My enterprise will continue to grow, and that will bring people from other parts of the galaxy. I would like my organizations to be as inclusive as possible. The goal is to increase cooperation and reduce friction as much as possible among different foreigners. Will you be able to do that, Madame Ophelia?"

The message implicit in his words was clearly directed towards the Ylvainans. He didn't want their culture and beliefs to contaminate the Larkinsons and Brighters under his employ!

"I understand." The old but active woman nodded. "I will endeavor to encourage my fellow Ylvainans to rein themselves in. Mind you, this is not an easy task. None of us have spent much time with foreigners. Many of us are still getting used to working alongside foreigners who doesn't necessarily appreciate what we have to say about our faith."

Ves grimaced. "Does that mean the problem will persist?"

"It.. will, sir." The fleet coordinator looked regretful. "Virtually every Ylvainan in your fleets will not hesitate to follow your orders. However, it is one thing to have the intention, it is another thing to have the ability. We Ylvainans are not trained to rein in our expressions of faith. It is something that is common and expected in our state. From a behavioral perspective, your new Ylvainan spacers will have to learn something that goes against every fiber of their being. Issuing a direct order for them to stop will likely backfire for that reason."

Damnit. Ves wanted to palm his face. He fully understood Ophelia's point.

"Do the best you can, madame. I'm not expecting any miracles, but you should at least endeavor to make every ship welcome to Brighters and other people. Due to our current circumstances, we are hiring a lot of Ylvainans, but in a year we might be forced to recruit a lot of foreigners from another state. I don't want the latter to feel unwelcome."

After finishing his questioning and passing on some more instructions, Ves finally ended his meeting with the fleet coordinator.

All in all, Ves was very glad he had someone like her. Her disciplined mind and lifelong service to the Kronon Dynasty imparted her with a high degree of professionalism.

She still sounded a bit devout in some parts, but she hid that side of her as much as possible.

Ves could sense the devotion within her. His other senses tingled the same way as when he encountered zealots!

"Well, it probably doesn't matter." He shook his head. "At least I don't have to worry about her loyalties."

Once he settled his concerns about his naval assets, he turned his attention back to his design projects.

He began to analyze the logs generated by Joshua's mech.

Ever since Ves upgraded the Deliverer with a high-capacity neural interface, a lot of piloting-related parameters changed.

Many of them rose, reflecting Joshua's increasing control over his assigned mech!

Not only that, but his bond with Prophet Ylvaine had definitely grown!

This was amazing for someone who still admitted that he did not believe in the Ylvainan Faith!

In any case, the logs provided Ves with a wealth of data, though much of it was filled with gibberish as far as he was concerned.

From what little he could figure out, Joshua's performance had clearly improved. This definitely proved that high-capacity neural interfaces had potential!

Ves just had to make sure that the neural interface did not fry Joshua's brain anytime soon!

"Not every mech pilot warrants this neural interface." He mused. "Some are simply not good enough to reach the bottleneck of a standard neural interface."

The neural interface models that the mech industry considered standard was designed around an 'average' mech pilot. This was someone who wasn't too strong or weak.

In most cases, this worked fine, as many mech pilots were close enough to the average to fit with every standard solution.

It was the extreme case that always suffered in these cases. Joshua King would have been a promising asset to any mech regiment. Ves would be remiss if he did not make sure that Joshua had a good mech in his hands."

Ves found it peculiar that Joshua hadn't advanced yet despite possessing strong spiritual potential.

He briefly contemplated the option to perform spiritual surgery on the young mech pilot.

"What an awful idea!"

There was no way that would end well! Cracking Joshua's spirituality apart, only to piece them together with a lot of junk would inevitably kill the initial personality!

"Even if it takes some time, it's better if Joshua can overcome his problem by himself! Otherwise, he's not worthy to become an expert candidate!"