The Mech Touch

d your help in that because they aren ’t good enough to pass the recruitment tests. ” Ves explained with a wink.

[You make a good point, Mr.
Longhorn.
It is difficult to circumvent the recruitment test, or we would have already arranged something like that many years ago.
However, while virtual officers such as myself are limited in how we can exert our authority, you humans face fewer limits.
It is within my power to grant you the power to press gang any humans in our custody, but… this has always been an extreme solution to the CFA.
The other virtual officers will not like it if I let you obtain this power.]

Ves smirked at Cosit.
”Oh, come on.
I ’ve given you so much help ever since I joined the Research Department.
I can make it worth your while… ”

They hashed out a quick agreement regarding this issue.
It was very trivial for Ves to bribe the virtual commander with a small pile of merits, ostensibly to placate the protests of the other virtual officers.

Now that Ves obtained everything he wanted from his superior, he made to leave.
Before that, Cosit asked one more question.

[By the way, how do you want to call your new research project?]

”Hmm… let ’s call it Project Unfathomable. ”

[Why call it that?]

”Because it is unfathomable to everyone except for me. ” Ves grinned.

Virtual Commander Cosit moved quickly, which made sense since she wasn ’t a slow and inefficient human.
A large and roomy lab deep into the restricted section of the Research Department quickly became the new home of Project Unfathomable.

Ves became the project lead while Virtual Exobiologist Neeran became the co-lead.
Nonetheless, the latter expressed no interest in spending time on this nonsense research project.

[I don ’t know what Cosit was thinking when she approved your ridiculous proposal, but I don ’t want any part of it.] The exobiologist said over the comm.
[Besides, I ’m unable to perform any original research on my own initiative, so I will not be able to help anyway.]

”That ’s fine.
I merely wanted to add your name to the project to lend it some legitimacy and prevent others from dipping their fingers into it.
Joint research projects are much better protected and face much less scrutiny. ” He replied before closing his comm.

As soon as Ves entered his new lab and set the project up, he began to command the Starlight Megalodon to retrieve his ’test subjects ’.

The battleship activated her tractor beams in quick succession, dragging over every single Vandal and Swordmaidens that Ves could find on the overview.
He also designated Qilanxo as a priority test subject, causing the big exobeast to abruptly wake from her hibernation as her huge body began to float in the air!

Fortunately, the Starlight Megalodon ’s huge size and volume provided just enough room to accommodate the sacred god.
She was currently holed up in a large cell that nonetheless seemed rather cramped to a big exobeast and roared out in alarm.

”Hoh, there, Qilanxo! It ’s me, remember! ” Ves said when he arrived in front of her cell.
”This is just temporary.
You ’ll get out of the cell soon enough.
I ’ll make sure the lab will provide you with food and water to tide you over. ”

While Qilanxo still roared with alarm, she slowly calmed down when she realized nothing would change.
The cell was so strong that it could easily endure her stomping and clawing.

Besides, hearing that she would get to eat and drink for the first time in weeks must have been a relief to her.
One of the biggest faults of the safe zone was that it didn ’t offer any large-scale food sources.
The sparse plants the bots from the Starlight Megalodon hadn ’t bothered to uproot wouldn ’t be able to feed such a huge and voracious carnivore.

It was a good thing the Starlight Megalodon still possessed the ability to cultivate artificial meat.

”It ’s a shame Qilanxo and the two breakdown-proof mechs from our side never found an opportunity to prove their worth in battle in the red zone. ”

Events grew wildly out of his expectation.
The Enduring Protectors that Ves poured his heart and soul into designing now collected dust and rust inside the safe zone.

”It ’s a shame, but it ’s also a relief. ” He sighed.
He would hate to see them in battle against a cheat mech like the Belisarius.

This was also an inevitable part of being a mech designer.
Some mech designs never saw the light or day, or only saw very little use due to circumstances completely outside of the control of the person who developed them with the best intentions.

A mech existed to do battle, but many mechs and mech designs never actually stepped foot on the battlefield.
Some mechs mainly served as a powerful deterrence and their mere threat cowed every enemy that laid their eyes on them into avoiding a fight.

Despite never actually battling, these mechs nonetheless fulfilled their primary purpose of advancing the interests of their owners.
It was better to win a battle without a fight.

It was too bad the same didn ’t apply to his third original mech design.
A profound sense of disappointment wracked his spirit when he realized the Enduring Protector would never be able to justify its existence in battle.

Nonetheless, Ves needed to move on.
Plans might have changed, but the mission remained.

As he approached the cells containing his human ’test subjects ’, he narrowed his eyes.

”It ’s time they spill the beans on what they are after.
They can ’t ignore me this time. ”

He long wondered why the Flagrant Vandals suddenly split in half at the Detemen System and went their separate ways.
While the more valuable ships and mechs sneaked their way back to the Bright Republic, the Verle Task Force where Ves happened to be stationed at randomly traveled to the Reinald Republic before being sent knee-deep into the frontier!

All the time, Ves felt as if he was a passenger aboard an out-of-control shuttle crashing slowly into the ground from high orbit.
The lack of control truly frustrated him, but now that he became a Senior Mech Designer in the battleship ’s hierarchy, Ves was no longer content with knowing nothing.

”They better cough up the truth this time. ”