The Mech Touch

With the help of Calabast's useful insights, Ves formulated a revised plan to manage the expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan.

By no means was he willing to let these potential problem cases develop without supervision. That was a recipe for chaos and disaster.

He still pushed through with his plan to set up the Mech Pilot Management Bureau. He just dialed back its mission and imposed stricter limits on its discretion.

The new bureau needed to employ a soft touch to manage, supervise and guide the future expert pilots of the clan. It was very important to prevent any of the expert candidates from brewing any resentment towards him or the current leadership.

If they had any aspirations that were detrimental to his agenda, then the bureau should employ gentle means to dampen their extreme edges. The goal wasn't to remove the problem, but to turn a bigger issue into a smaller one. Anything further than that was too risky.

After doing all of that, if the threat still remained, then the bureau should discreetly find ways to put expert candidates and expert pilots at odds with each other. If these strong personalities directed most of their animosity towards other expert pilots, then Ves and the true leadership of the clan wouldn't have to spend too much energy on countering their narratives.

All in all, this was a much more intensive but considerably more elegant approach than before. His previous plan was too hamfisted to succeed in the long run. Expert candidates and expert pilots simply weren't sheep that were easily controlled. They were like wolves that could never be tamed.

Once Calabast helped him refine their new approach towards expert candidates, Ves commanded her to continue to flesh it out with Major Verle.

Though Ves pulled back the scope of the Mech Pilot Management Bureau, its work could not be done without resorting to multiple prongs. The open and aboveboard institutions had to work together with the hidden and secretive arms of the clan. Employing official means to influence expert candidates was not enough. The role of the Black Cats was indispensable.

As Calabast stood up and turned to leave, Ves brought up another matter.

"By the way, are you up to date with what our good friend 'Professor Benedict Cortez' is doing in the Cross Clan?"

She stopped and turned back to Ves. "Are you concerned?"

"Don't play dumb in front of me. You're the one responsible for giving him his current cover identity."

Calabast crossed her arms. "He would have turned to someone else if I refused his commission. You should be happy that I am the one who fashioned his new identity. Think of what might happen if you partnered up with him without becoming aware of his sordid past."

"I'm not blaming you for giving the Skull Architect a way to return to civilized space. I've even made a verbal agreement with him to partner up. I just want to make sure we have enough safeguards in place in the event he goes crazy or something."

While Ves did not think that the Skull Architect was irrational enough to tear apart a good deal, it was best to be prepared. Ves had managed to live up until now because he always prepared plenty of contingencies.

He couldn't account for every possible outcome, but it was enough to prepare against the most likely and damaging events.

"Who do you think I am, kid?" Calabast sneered. "I have already prepared several countermeasures should the professor ever take aim at us. The greatest form of leverage we have over him is our knowledge of his true identity. Make no mistake. Once we leak it to the MTA, the professor is history."

Ves didn't feel very reassured about that. When he met the Skull Architect, he seemed way too confident and self-assured to be worried about exposure.

"Why do I have the feeling that this isn't as useful as I think?"

"Benedict knows we have leverage over him. Despite the risks to his life and safety, he still chose to join the Cross Clan in order to get close to us. Why would he make such a dangerous choice?"

Ves frowned and thought for a moment. As someone who is used to taking risks, he quickly understood what Calabast was steering him towards.

"Because.. What the professor wants is worth the potential risks. From what I know, all he wants is to advance to master. He's so desperate to realize his design philosophy that he didn't hesitate to murder an expert pilot and eke out a new living in the frontier."

"Exactly." Calabast nodded. "Make no mistake. The Skull Architect did not earn his name by being a fuddy duddy scholar. He is a truly ambitious man who does not let any of the rules get in the way of what he wants. The only reason why he abides by them is because breaking them is not conducive to his goals."

"Are you saying that we can trust Professor Cortez?" Ves frowned.

"Mech designers like him are not that difficult to deal with. As long as you know what he wants, it is easy to manage our relations with him. Isn't he going through all of this trouble because he believes that collaborating with you will help him advance to Master Mech Designer?"

"That's correct…"

"Then he should not be an acute threat to us. In fact, it's the opposite. It's in his best interest to support you and keep you safe. I guess this is the other reason why he joined the Cross Clan instead of becoming a part of the Larkinson Clan. He can turn the Cross Clan into your unwitting guard dogs, thereby increasing your security in the times to come."

The situation sounded a bit surreal to Ves. The Skull Architect was actively trying to become one of his backers? This was absurd! A dignified Senior never compromised so much in order to earn the favor of the Journeyman!

Yet… as powerful as Benedict might be, he did not actually possess that much leverage over Ves. If the Skull Architect wanted to coax Ves into collaborating with him, then the former war criminal had to lower his head and employ gentler means.

Why did that sound familiar?

"Benedict isn't concerned about the possibility that we would rat him out." Calabast explained. "He knows it is not in our best interests to remove him from the picture. Also, he is expressing his sincerity by giving us leverage over him. He is signalling a willingness to cooperate earnestly with us without resorting to any tricks. Someone who wants to betray us at some point wouldn't do that. This is why I'm not very worried about Benedict."

"All of this makes sense, but… the biggest flaw is that this only holds true as long as the professor remains rational. I don't know about you, but in my past interactions with the Skull Architect, he can be pretty irrational sometimes."

Calabast nodded in acknowledgement. "The risk exists, but there is too much at stake for him. I doubt he is irrational enough to engage in self-destructive behavior."

"That doesn't mean he's harmless."

"Of course not. While it's difficult to penetrate the Cross Clan, we still keep an eye on the professor and the rest of the Crossers. If there are any credible signs of danger, I will immediately bring it up to your attention."

That sounded good. Though Calabast had been incredibly helpful in many matters, she was caught off-guard several times in the past. Ves didn't want her to miss another foreseeable disaster.

Ves briefly discussed the upcoming alliance between the two clans. The Larkinson Clan and the Cross Clan had already negotiated most of the terms of their cooperative relationship. They were merely held up due to a number of lingering disagreements about benefits.

"You don't have to be so concerned, Ves. Patriarch Reginald Cross is in the same boat as Professor Cortez. For some reason, he believes that your cooperation is essential to attaining his goals. As long as he needs you, the Cross Clan will remain firm allies."

"What happens when these figures finally realize their ambitions?" Ves asked a very crucial question.

Calabast smiled in an intriguing fashion. "That is when the situation gets interesting. If these two figures don't need us anymore, then there is no compelling reason why they should continue to cooperate with us. I hope you have some kind of plan ready when the time comes."

Great. This was yet any concern that Ves had to worry about. Fortunately, he could delegate this problem to Calabast. She may be a bit unreliable but she was still on his side.

Once she left his stateroom, Ves pushed aside his concerns and tried to shift his focus back on his immediate priorities.

"Designing mechs comes first." He whispered to himself.

After wrapping up some administrative tasks, he moved over to the design lab.

Over fifty mech designers were grouped into a dozen design teams. Each team was already busy at work. Designing six second-class mech designs at once was an enormous burden that would strain everyone's limits over the course of the next half year.

This was just the start.

He moved forward until he reached Gloriana's side.

Lucky, who trailed behind Ves, jumped up to the work table and nuzzled his head in Clixie's stomach.

"Miaow!" She swatted the gem cat away.

"Meow."

"It's about time you showed up." Gloriana turned around her seat, facing away from the schematic she was working on. "You promised not to get distracted by clan matters this time."

Ves innocently raised his arms. "I'm sorry. Something truly important came up. I've taken care of it now. There shouldn't be too many distractions left aside from concluding our negotiations with the Cross Clan and welcoming the arrival of our new factory ship."

"I hope that is true, because I won't be as patient next time. Now sit down and help me expand this draft."

He looked at the projected schematic and saw that she was currently working on their upcoming Hexer communication mech.

"This mech.. I'm not sure we can realize the spiritual aspect of this mech." Ves hesitantly said. "I've never implemented this function before."

Gloriana confidently smiled and leaned against his arm. "I'm sure you can do it, Ves. You have several months to come up with something. For now, let's start with the basics. As you can see, I have opted to design a light auxiliary mech to become the carrier of this function. There is no great need to arm it because it is better if our communication mech is cheap and not as burdensome to make. The Hegemony may have stockpiled a lot of materials but that is no grounds for waste."

Her floral scent was already filling his nose. He relaxed in her presence as he began to get back in his groove.

He seriously studied her work, paying extra attention to her fundamental design choices.

What stood out from her proposed concept was that the communication mech did not possess any weapons!

"I'm not sure about this design choice here. Even if auxiliary mechs aren't designed for direct confrontations, they at least carry a knife or pistol. You never know when a backup weapon comes handy."

"It's pointless." Gloriana shook her head. "This is a male mech design. Arming them with any weapon means we have to devote some capacity to make it viable to fight with this frame. That's too much of a burden. I would rather devote all of its capacity towards increasing its survivability. It has to stay up as long as possible to keep every Hexer on the battlefield in the loop. We should leave its protection to other mechs that are much better geared towards actual combat."

Usually, Ves was in favor of specializing his mechs. However, he didn't feel so great about this auxiliary mech. To leave a male mech on the battlefield without any capacity to defend itself sounded wrong.

At least their Blessed Squire design was still a qualified knight mech, if a rather poor one.

"I think those poor male Hexer mech pilots could use a weapon." He told her. "Otherwise, our communication mech becomes completely dependent on the protection of other Hexer mechs."

"That's the point."