The Mech Touch novel Chapter 680

The meeting unfolded exactly according to his expectations. The brass saw fit to explain the bare necessities to the lower ranks. Feed them enough information to clear the doubt in their minds, but not too much that they would start asking questions again.

The matter about the life-prolonging serums never came up as a focal point of the conversation. In fact, Verle never even released those words from his lips in the first place!

The rest of the meeting devolved into a lecture on the policy changes, the need to keep the rank and file calm and complacent, and the possibility of encountering a pirate ambush at every FTL transition.

"Make no mistake. We are traversing the true breadth of lawless space. The Mech Corps has always recommended that only entire mech divisions are strong enough to withstand the predation of the pirates and the sandmen in the Faris Star Region. Since our combined allied force is far short of matching the firepower of ten-thousand mechs, we shall have to lean on the connections and expertise of Lydia’s Swordmaidens to tide us through the untamed stars."

Shortly after that, Major Verle dismissed his cadre and ordered them to return to their stations to enlighten their subordinates with a shortened version of his spiel.

The secret was truly out now.

"Mr. Larkinson, a moment if you will." The major called out.

As the other officers and chiefs left the conference room, Ves was left alone with the major. He had no idea why the mech officer called him out specifically this time. Did the man suspect that Ves had spoken with Calabast? He might land in hot water if that were true.

"Lieutenant Nolsen Feray told me that you spent your time on Mancroft Station pursuing private pursuits. By private pursuits, I mean objectives that have no discernable relation to your current responsibilities as head designer of this task force. What do you have to say for yourself?"

If Ves was still the slightly fresh-faced rookie mech designer who arrived aboard the Vandal fleet at the start, he would have stammered or put out some lame excuse or something. The guilt would be evident in his expression.

It was different now. He became a lot more jaded after being exposed to the realities of how the different parts of the galaxy was run. The fleet’s entry into the frontier only emphasized the fact that Ves was moving to a place far removed from the ideals he held at the start of his service.

So his chosen form of response was to be nonchalant about his indiscretions. He disrespectfully shrugged his shoulders and plainly spoke out his reasons.

"With all the danger I’ve been subjected to lately, I feel that I need to increase my ability to preserve my life. It’s not that I don’t trust the Vandals, but they are first and foremost a mech regiment geared for raiding and harassment operations. At best, they can moonlight as a mixed reconnaissance unit. The fact of the matter is that you Vandals are ill-suited to face the many unorthodox threats we have barely overcome up to now and that we will continue to face in the frontier."

If Major Verle was expecting an excuse, he didn’t expect this kind of answer delivered in this manner.

"We may have let you down a few times, Mr. Larkinson. I admit that you have saved us just as much as we saved you, but that is the nature of service. I cannot have you run around pursuing your private errands while your official duties to the Vandals is starting to backslide. Some mech designers have expressed concerns that you are spending less and less attention to your basic duties. You are failing the expectations we have placed on your shoulders."

Urgh. Ves knew exactly who these unmentioned-by-name mech designers were. Mercator or Trozin or both had stabbed him in the back yet again. Perhaps he needed to sic Ketis on them and tell the enthusiastic Swordmaiden that they have volunteered themselves for sparring practice.

"Major Verle," Ves breathed deeply. "Before you believe the words of political animals in the form of mech designers, perhaps you should ask your chief technicians and the other mech designers what they think about my leadership. You’ll undoubtedly hear that the situation is well in hand, and that my well-crafted schedules and timetables is keeping the entire maintenance department on track with finishing the high-g modifications to the landbound mechs within a standard month. If you place any of the other overconfident mech designers in my position, they’ll almost certainly falter and screw up, delaying the modification work by at least a month, if not two."

Major Verle had no way of confirming his retort at this moment, but he was sure to follow through in his investigation.

Ves wasn’t worried. He might have embellished some matters here and there, but the fact that the mech designers and mech technicians all worked at high levels of productivity couldn’t be denied.

"So you claim that the design teams and the maintenance department can do just fine without you? Doesn’t that make your position redundant?"

"I’m a delegator, not a micromanager." Ves calmly replied. "Every mech designer is kind of a geek by nature. That doesn’t necessarily make them good leaders, but they are perfectly capable of following a set list of instructions if presented with one. My leadership style is to draft those instructions beforehand, implementing several what-ifs scenarios and I’ve incorporated some decision trees if they ever face the issues I’ve predicted beforehand. If they can’t handle a problem, they’ve been instructed to kick them upstairs. As the mech designer at the top, I’m always ready to tackle the thorniest issues that crop up."

This was the way he ran his current posting and it was also how he ran the LMC. An argument could be made about the merits of this hands-off leadership style that depended heavily on delegation to keep the entire machine running.

Sometimes, a problem started small in the early stages, but snowballed into a complete calamity by the time it came to the attention of Ves. Other times, a chronic problem became a serious issue, but never escalated to the point where his subordinates brought it up to his attention despite dealing massive damage over time.

Ves simply consoled himself that he would make a thorough inspection once a month or something. With so many side projects demanding his time, he didn’t feel the need to babysit the Vandals that much anymore.