The Mech Touch

The expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan all answered the summons with no hesitation.

No matter whether they were taking a nap or in the middle of practice, they all put down what they were doing and boarded a shuttle that brought them to the Scarlet Rose.

The mobile supply frigate didn't have enough space to accommodate so many shuttles arriving at once. Ves grimaced as he saw a small queue forming at the aft of his personal ship.

"I need a bigger boat."

Ever since Ves hijacked the Scarlet Rose from the Coalition Reserve Corps, he fell in love with her advanced features and stellar performance. His prior ship was the Barracuda which was really just a toy for rich people.

Yet just a few years after acquiring her, Ves no longer felt impressed with his personal ship. The Larkinson Clan grew bigger and Ves grew busier. The scope of his work grew bigger and his demands on external facilities increased.

Even though mobile supply frigates were designed to address the needs of mech designers, the Scarlet Rose was no longer adequate for his purposes.

He looked forward to obtaining his factory ship. The humongous volume of this 2 kilometer long vessel possessed ample room so satisfy all of his needs in the next couple of decades.

Only a capital ship was able to keep up with his growth. His new factory ship would not only serve as the industrial heart of the Larkinson fleet, but also serve as his personal seat of power for the times to come.

Incidents such as the minor traffic jam forming in front of the cramped hangar bay of the Scarlet Rose would no longer take place.

A short time passed before the first invited expert candidate entered his stateroom.

Lucky, who had showed up again for some reason, raised his head in curiosity.

"Meow."

Commander Casella Ingvar saluted Ves as soon as she stepped inside and approached his desk.

"You've summoned me, sir?"

"I did. Please take a seat."

As Casella sat down, her pet flapped her wings and launched in the air.

"Chirp. Chirp."

The goldfinch-like bird flew above Lucky in a teasing manner.

"Mirrie. Don't tease Lucky like that."

"Chirp chirp!"

"Meow!"

Even though Mirrie was flying high in the air, Lucky used his flight abilities to soar straight upwards before capturing the poor bird!

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

Fortunately, Lucky was merely toying with Mirrie. He let her go as soon as he indulged in his victory. The bird was not resigned to this defeat and began to flap her wings even harder!

Ves and Casella ignored the sideshow.

"So, commander. I've heard you are adjusting well to your new position. How are the Sentinels?"

The Sentinel Commander nodded. "They are getting better, sir. I've implemented some morale-boosting measures to drag them out of their slump. I'd like to thank you for allocating some of the new second-class mechs to us. A lot of Sentinel mech pilots have grown excited about piloting these machines. Our only regret is that we don't have enough of them to satisfy all of my men. For now, I've set up a rotating schedule to give every mech pilot an equal amount of time to practice with the new additions."

"That sounds quite fair, but have you ever thought about setting up a reward scheme? By letting the best-performing Sentinels gain more access to the second-class mechs, you can motivate them into working harder."

Casella faintly shook her head. "Magdalena suggested that as well, but for every winner, there are at least ten losers. We need to foster cooperation, not competition."

Though Ves didn't quite agree with that, he did not bother to argue with her. Perhaps her approach worked out better.

Ves began to ask more questions. Casella freely answered them with clear passion in her voice.

The more they talked, the more Ves recognized that Casella was in her element.

The Living Sentinels loved their new commander. As an expert candidate, Casella gained a lot of admiration from the start. This made everything easier for her. When she began to implement some reforms, hardly any of the Sentinels resisted her ideas.

Ves figured that without her identity as an expert candidate, Casella would have faced a lot more resistance from her own men. The Living Sentinels were in a pretty bad shape once the Nyxian Gap Campaign concluded.

It wasn't fair, but so was life. Casella did not reject the boons granted by her piloting accomplishments but leveraged them instead. Through her proactive leadership, the Sentinels were finally beginning to move forward again.

Through this little discussion, Ves gained a strong impression of Casella as an expert candidate.

It was clear that she wanted to dedicate herself towards leadership and responsibility.

In fact, Ves even saw the shadow of Colonel Ark Larkinson in the Sentinel Commander.

Casella was different from Commander Orfan and Commander Dise who were warriors first and officers second. The latter two were mainly passionate about their martial skills. While they did not reject the need to command their subordinates, they did not obsess over it as much as other people.

From what he could see, Casella was in her element when she was commanding. If Ves took this away from her, hardly anything would be left.

What was strange to Ves was that her active and developing spiritual potential was very unusual in nature.

It was difficult for him to describe her spiritual attributes. As best as he could tell, her attributes were dark, shadowy, silent, thoughtful, patient, calm and cold.

Yet while Casella embodied all of these traits, she did not seem to be too extreme.

Frankly speaking, Ves was confused. Both Casella and her brother possessed peculiar spiritual attributes that were actually opposite in nature. Their complex spiritual attributes originally compelled him to hire them, but now that he had them, he was a bit lost.

He inwardly shrugged. He didn't have to pay too much attention to the interaction of her spiritual attributes. As far as he could tell, Commander Casella was all about leading people, and that was enough.

Now that he had her measure, Ves returned to his original purpose.

"If you happen to advance to expert pilot, what would you like to do?" He asked.

The direct question stumped Casella for a second.

"I'm not sure, sir. According to regulations, I'm supposed to relinquish my position and move over to the Hall of Heroes. It's just…"

Ves offered her a friendly smile. "Are you reluctant to leave your command?"

"I am. I enjoy my current work and I don't see that changing if I ever manage to advance." She admitted.

"You may have a chance of keeping your command once you become and expert pilot."

Her eyes widened. "Isn't that against regulations?"

He chuckled. "Perhaps its best to understand the context behind this rule. The Hall of Heroes serves a special purpose. Its goal is to form a separation between our expert pilots and the rest of our clan. We do this not to marginalize our expert pilots, but to limit their influence so that they don't dominate everyone else. The Larkinson Clan must be governed by every Larkinson, not a select few clansmen."

Casella frowned. "Won't it be dangerous to make an exception for me in that case?"

"The threat is there, but the benefits outweigh the costs. It only makes sense to apply the rules when they yield the most gains. I think in your case that our clan is much better served if we allow you to keep your command."

A lot of happiness flowed from Commander Casella. She felt enormously relieved now that Ves had given her an opening!

"Thank you, patriarch! This is a very welcome piece of news to me. I even thought about suppressing my progress if I couldn't gain an exemption."

If Casella really did that, then the Larkinson Clan would be missing out! Even though the Larkinson Clan had too many expert pilots right now, he would not forgive himself if he allowed an expert candidate to hold herself back due to a single rule!

Though it wasn't entirely proper for Ves to contradict one of his own rules, he didn't care. As the Patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, he could get away with breaking them once in a while.

After he wrapped up his conversation with Casella, she stood up, took her bird and exited the compartment.

Ves made some notes in his implant. In his opinion, he should reinforce Casella's development as an expert pilot by providing her with a custom mech that was oriented towards command, leadership and responsibility.

It didn't hurt to obtain at least one expert pilot that excelled in command. Colonel Ark Larkinson set a stellar example of how such an individual could dramatically affect the performance of thousands of mech pilots.

"Next."

Casella's brother entered next.

Unlike her sister, Imon Ingvar was not as reserved. He marched over to the desk and saluted to Ves before sitting down.

His dog, Dalson, was already butting heads with Lucky.

"Meow!"

"Woof!"

"Well, Imon. I see you're still wearing the uniform of the Avatars. Why didn't you follow your sister?"

"The Sentinels don't suit me." Imon shrugged. "I feel great fighting alongside the Avatars. Each of them are brothers and sisters to me. If I move over to the Sentinels, I'll have to start over again with mech pilots who aren't as good."

"What is your aspiration?"

"I.. I want to become a great mech pilot! I want to surpass my limits. I've only taken the first step so far, but I'm confident I can become an expert pilot like Venerable Joshua. If he can do it, so can I!" Imon confidently answered.

That was a remarkably simple aspiration to Ves. It sounded rather shallow and not that serious, but he sensed Imon's sincerity.

The discussion continued on for another ten minutes. Ves asked a range of other questions about Imon's life in the Larkinson Clan and his time in the Avatars.

"I'm not like my sister. I don't know why others keep comparing me with her, but I'm completely different." He insisted. "I know she is doing great things over in the Living Sentinels, but I don't want to be responsible to so many people."

Ves quickly moved to reassure him. "You don't have to be afraid of that. Many expert candidates and expert pilots aren't suited to command. If you want to focus on developing your piloting skills, then we will provide you with ample opportunities."

Compared to his sister, Imon was a lot more straightforward. He was the kind of mech pilot who did not hesitate to dive head-first into battle. He was also a bit impulsive and did not always think matters through.

What was Ves supposed to do with a mech pilot as bone-headed as Imon?

Should he allow Imon to continue to progress along these lines or should he draw his own lines and force Imon to follow his arrangements instead?

Ves had difficulty deciding. A large part of him wanted to treat Imon as a remarkable control experiment. He wanted to avoid intervening the expert candidate's mental progression and see what happened if Imon ever broke through.

Well, it wasn't as if he was short of expert candidates. He could apply his ideas to his other expert candidates just as well.

Ves asked one more question before he let Imon depart.

"If you ever advance to expert pilot, what would your expert mech look like?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to decide, sir?"

"As the recipient, your input matters. We cannot ensure a good fit if we don't know what you prefer to see in your expert mech."

"Well… I don't really know what I want in my expert mech." Imon furrowed his brows. "I like piloting swordsman mechs, but I can pilot other melee mechs as well. I suppose I'm good as long as you give me an expert mech with strong attack power. Don't give me one of those Hexer mechs, though! I'd rather die than pilot a female mech!"

"I will take that into account if the need to design your expert mech ever arises."