The Mech Touch

The Battle of Corellix came to a fairly satisfying conclusion.

Stingray 1 and Stingray 2 both fell into the hands of the Golden Skull Alliance while remaining mostly intact.

Around 2 yurzen battleships, 17 yurzen cruisers and 12 yurzen destroyers turned into prizes as well, though their conditions were so mixed that a few vessels were literally on the verge of falling apart!

Aside from that, the expeditionary fleet also gained access to a decent amount of additional wreckage, although it would be a lot more troublesome to extract value from these broken pieces.

The battleships burned by the Promethea particularly had to be discounted due to how much her domineering flames had burned so much tech and valuable materials!

Nonetheless, any salvage was worth money no matter how much its condition had degraded. There was always a market for large quantities of metals in a society that was chronically short on materials to further its vital military and industrial buildup.

One of the more pleasant bonuses of this operation was the unexpected discovery and capture of a damaged but still-operational archeship.

The Diligent Ovenbird had already scooped up the ship that Lucky single-handedly secured in one of her warm 'ovens'.

The biggest fly in the ointment was the fact that a lot of yurzen warships managed to escape the range of all of the mechs and warped away like no tomorrow!

The expeditionary fleet did not possess the capabilities to chase after all of these fleeing alien vessels, especially when they split in dozens of different directions as they made their way out of the Corellix System.

The Golden Skull Alliance could do little to these cowardly aliens aside from adopting a defensive posture to protect all of the captured prize ships and salvageable debris.

After all, the alien warships could easily regroup and turn around again as soon as the expeditionary fleet became vulnerable again!

Ves knew that the Battle of Corellix still produced far better results than typical engagements against alien fleets.

Most pioneering forces had to invest a huge amount of effort to even force an alien fleet into battle.

Even then, without implementing thorough means to limit the operation of enemy warp drives, the aliens always had the option of beating a quick retreat from the moment they started to enter into a losing position!

All of this highlighted the importance of adopting warp drives or superdrives. Without more ships like the Spirit of Bentheim that could at least keep up with some of the alien ships in warp, it would always be difficult for human forces to force their adversaries into standing battles!

He could worry about these issues later.

While the expeditionary fleet had already started to undertake search, rescue and capture operations, Ves continued to communicate with the Terrans that were situated far away from the battlefield.

His explosive inaugural lecture had finally come to an end.

Many eager, excited and inspired students steadily filed out of the auditorium and discussed what they witnessed during the battle.

Ves felt quite satisfied at the outcome of this highly publicized lecture. He had basically managed to meet all of the goals that he strived for when he dared to do this in the middle of a dangerous engagement.

Hardly any Terrans looked down on him as a second-rater anymore. While the class difference could not be erased, the first thoughts that came to mind when they thought about 'Professor Larkinson' was that he was a courageous warlord who dared to fight against alien warships at close range!

In a society that heavily revered heroes and successful leaders, Ves had ensured that he would always stand out among the other professors in a positive fashion!

He managed to win over the respect of most of his students. Even if he did not hold another lecture during a serious battle in the future, this memorable event would always form a part of his constantly expanding myth!

After the conclusion of his first question-and-answer session, the projection of Ves moved backstage where he met with a satisfied dean.

"Excellent job, Professor Larkinson. You have made a better impression than I anticipated." Master Laila Devos spoke with a smile. "I expected you to employ your typical evocative presentation approach that you have demonstrated in your prior public appearances, but your ability to connect with our Terran students is remarkable."

Ves mostly shrugged. "I am sure those young professionals are all capable of speaking just as well in public. I mainly relied on two factors to compensate for my shortcomings. First, I prepared for this occasion well in advance, taking special care to learn what my students are like and what subjects might hold their interest. Second, I exploited the battle on my end to turn this lecture into a unique and unheard of spectacle. If I did not go through such extremes to capture the respect and imagination of my students, I probably don't deserve to speak in front of most of your student body."

The Terran Master Mech Designer's demeanor turned more serious.

"You have a sober perspective on your position. That is good. I feared that you may have developed an inflated opinion of yourself after holding just a single class. Effective teachers have no need to rely on stagecraft to convey their lessons to their pupils. Their theories, their stories and the manner in which they communicate their wisdom are the criteria that truly matters in our teaching profession."

He nodded in agreement. "Don't worry. I do not plan to do anything exciting for my next lessons. I actually have to teach a lot about mech design in my other two courses, and I can't do so when my ship is under heavy fire. I only really needed to do this once. I am well aware that the vast majority of Terrans are not suited for the active life that I have chosen for myself."

The expression of Master Devos grew sterner at the mention of the possible example that he had set for the student body.

"This is one of the subjects that I need to discuss with you. Many of our best and most prized students are members of prominent clans, families and other long-standing organizations. Each of their heritages and traditions go back for centuries or millennia. One of the many reasons why they have lasted to the present day is how they have carefully planned the educations and careers of their descendants. As a professor of the Eden Institute of Business & Technology, it is your responsibility to teach the knowledge set in the curriculum of your courses. It is not your responsibility to be their parent or career advisor. We especially do not want to hear you encourage our students to rebel against their own clans and set off into the deep frontier in a misguided attempt to make their lives more meaningful."

He could tell that Master Devos was truly upset about this issue. Ves admitted to himself that it might not have been politically correct for him to subtly instigate rebellion in a culture that placed an extremely high importance in respecting long-standing traditions and conforming to the established hierarchy of Terran society.

"I will pay more attention in this area." He promised to his direct superior. "I already planned to add more nuance on this subject in a future lecture. It is almost impossible for individuals to become a pioneer and build up an entire fleet by themselves. They will most certainly need a lot of backing to acquire the mechs, starships, personnel, funding and other necessities to explore the frontier. I cannot avoid this subject matter entirely, though. My Frontier Wisdom course is primarily aimed at students that intend to work in this dangerous sphere in one capacity or another."

The older mech designer accepted this response.

"There is indeed a place in our institute for a course such as yours. That said, please transmit your lesson plans for your upcoming lecture of this course to my address. I am not doubting you, but I must exercise due diligence to ensure your intentions align with ours. We have already started to receive complaints from concerned clans about your more problematic messages."

That sounded dangerous to Ves. A lot of Terran clans held a lot of power, wealth and influence. He did not want to add another bunch of powerful enemies to his list!

"Am I in trouble, Master Devos?"

"No. We are well-equipped to handle the complaints ourselves. We are fulfilling our responsibility as your employer. This is how it works. We hired you to become our professor because we want you to share your message to our students. If you ever say anything that is controversial, the principal fault lies with us because we have selected you in the first place."

"I... see."

"We still have limits, mind you. If your speeches diverge completely from the curriculum and the regulations that we have set, it is you who will be at fault. Our institution will not shield a professor who deliberately tarnishes our reputation, do you understand?"

The Eden Institute wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice Ves if he put his foot in his mouth and stirred up too much trouble!

All of this sounded fair to him. He held no resentment towards the school for setting a limit to their tolerance. Professors were never supposed to act like egotistical problem children.

"I promise that I will be on my best behavior." Ves responded and bowed.

"Good. Let us move on to a more pleasant topic." The Master began to smile again. "The demand to attend your courses has skyrocketed after you have concluded your lecture. We are receiving thousands of requests to reopen the enrollment window for not just your Frontier Wisdom course, but also your other two ones. As the man in charge of all three of them, I will leave the decision up to you. Are you willing to make a late adjustment and expand the size of your classes?"

This was a difficult issue for Ves to decide upon. He would love to come into contact with more students in a semester. The more Terrans he taught, the more extensively he could build his network in the Terran Alliance!

However, Ves did not allow his initial success in his teaching career to give him any delusions about his actual teaching ability.

He had no idea how many students he could effectively handle in any of his classes.

His workload would also increase a lot if he had to become responsible for double, triple or quadruple the amount of brats who signed up for his courses!

"Let's keep the current numbers for now." Ves decided. "As you have already said before, rules are rules. Those students already had their chance and wasted it. The fact that they have missed the enrollment window is a consequence of their own lack of judgment and analytical ability. If they are still interested in my courses, they can always try to sign up for them before the start of the next semester."

"Well said, Professor Larkinson. You are already starting to apply a pedagogic approach to your decision-making. Everything we do in our institute is for the purpose of preparing the next generation of mech designers, businessmen and other professionals to adequately assume the burden of progressing our civilization. This has become an even more acute priority now that we have completely lost the ability to transfer fresh personnel from the Milky Way Galaxy."

Master Laila Devos expressed a consistent concern for the future of red humanity.

As an educator, she was very cognizant of how much of a difference she could make in the transformation of the naive young adults of today into the visionary leaders of human society of tomorrow!

Ves couldn't help but become affected by the Master Mech Designer's earnest goals and aspirations. Teaching was a noble profession. He felt honored for being given the opportunity to correctly shape the minds of so many young students!