The Mech Touch

erials to begin their major overhauls.
The Inheritor was not the only design that led to a large-scale adjustment project.
Modified designs for the Hellcat and Akkara mechs had gone through as well, forcing the Vandals to stretch their limited industrial capacity even further.

Logistics prioritized the overhaul of the Akkara and Hellcat models over the Inheritors.
Ves could do nothing against this favoritism, but he did his best to prevent them from neglecting the Inheritor and to allocate every available bit of spare capacity to modifying the light mechs.

Ves yawned a bit as he sat behind a terminal in the logistics department.
His job the last few days amounted to acting like a glorified babysitter.
He was there to make sure that logistics did their job and didn ’t slack off for some reason for another.

”At least I have access to some of their more restricted information banks this time. ”

In order to do his job effectively, Ves required an overview of all the assets of the Flagrant Vandals.

This was the fire time he got a broad top-level picture of the strength of the mech regiment.

So when Ves saw that the Flagrant Vandals actively fielded more than three-thousand mechs and mech pilots, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets!

”Three-thousand fieldable mechs! ”

The Vandals also carried extra spare mechs, but the important point was that the Vandals possessed way more strength than was typical for a mech regiment.

Most ran with two-thousand mechs for a reason.
For the Vandals to accomplished something like this without told him much about their raw ambitions!

Ves bet that a large reason why the Vandals went knee-deep into debt was because of this reckless expansion.

”Why do they need so many mechs? What are they hiding? ”

Mech regiments possessed a large amount of authority.
They picked their own mech models and organized their units according to their own customs.
Some mech regiments fielded fewer than a thousand mechs, while others brought five hundred extra mechs along.

Yet Ves had never heard of a regiment from the Republic with over three-thousand working mechs.
All of these mehs happened to be riding on a score of combat carriers and transports that must have cost a lot to obtain.

”A regiment doesn ’t expand its strength by fifty percent without a reason. ”

He tried to scour for additional details from his terminal ’s connection to the restricted database, but found nothing relevant that could answer his questions.

Strangely as it seemed, despite the database containing strong signs that a the Vandals fielded an extra thousand mechs, no one aboard the Wolf Mother except for the elites who worked in the restricted section knew about this.
What this did mean?

Ves didn ’t know.

He truly didn ’t know.

After some hesitation, he walked up to the logistical officer and gently asked the fellow what was going on.

”Mr.
Larkinson, I don ’t need to remind you that you should keep such information locked within your mind.
The men outside this section do not need to know that our rolls are considerably larger than is publicly known. ”

”Understood, sir. ”

Not a lot of words passed between them.
Ves read between the lines that his posting here was of some significance.
Despite the boring and thankless nature of his current assignment, the true objective of his presence here seemed to be preparing him for something else.
And for that, Ves needed to be aware of the true scale in which the Vandals worked.

At the end of the meeting, the officer left him with one final sentence.
”The colonel is keeping an eye on you. ”

That caused Ves to subconsciously shiver.
How did he attract the attention of such a legendary figure within the Vandals? His earlier word play against Professor Velten shouldn ’t have been significant enough to register on her radar.

As his mind filled with confusion, he eventually finished his shift and returned to the design department.
He returned back in time to grab some freshly cooked dinner, so he eagerly grabbed a plate and sat down at the same table as Laida and Pierce.

”You ’re not hanging out with your girlfriend this time? ” Pierce verbally jabbed at Ves.

”I beg your pardon? ”

”You ’re spending most of your time with Iris these days. ”

Ves coughed with embarrassment.
”My relationship with her is purely professional.
I ’ve never given her an opening to sink her teeth into me.
Alloc has already warned me not to entangle myself with the Vesian rebels. ”

Both of his fellow mech designers shook their heads.

”Don ’t you know how the two of you look when you work together side by side? ” Laida spoke out.
”The two of you are just like a married couple! ”

Laida widened her eyes and shoved her palm over her mouth.
”Sorry! I don ’t mean any disrespect! ”

”Hey, I ’m just an Apprentice Mech Designer, just like you.
There ’s no need to apologise. ”

They awkwardly returned to their meals.
As Ves ate some kind of pasta dish, he thought about his interactions with Iris so far.
From his perspective, he had acted with perfect propriety throughout his interactions with Iris.
The only problem was that the Vesian had a tendency to place her hand or arm around his body.

As much as Ves pretended to be unaffected, he had to admit her touch felt nice.
Still, Ves always kept his rationality at the forefront and devoted as much of his attention to the business at hand.
This should have been the right approach, but he did not factor in the opinions of others.

Even if he could say that he would never do something as stupid as defect to the Vesian rebels, his words would hold no strength.
Laida and Pierce placed more faith on their own observations over any excuses that Ves could come up with.

Ves felt a little alienated by the tentative friends he made during his stay here.
Before long, he would be completely separated from his fellow mech designers, just like what had happened during their training phase.