The Mech Touch

Normally, the Scarlet Rose wasn't very boisterous. The mobile supply frigate that Ves had managed to hijack from the Coalition Reserve Corps wasn't very big. She was only able to carry four mechs at most and her mech workshop's output was fairly modest.

Nonetheless, she was the best ship in his possession. Ves did not feel entirely safe to travel aboard the third-class ships of his clan. He didn't possess any stomach to travel aboard one of the ten formidable combat carriers in the hands of the Penitent Sisters either.

Only the Scarlet Rose provided him with a space that he could completely call his own. After an extensive overhaul and refit, much of her interior had been changed to suit his needs.

Now, after a long time, the Scarlet Rose hosted more people than just Ves and the Battle Criers that made up her crew.

A group of 26 assistant mech designers had gathered in the design lab. The presence of so many people made the compartment a lot livelier, though also a bit cramped.

Ketis stood proudly at the front of the group. The other mech designers fearfully kept their distance from her and her incredibly sharp greatsword.

The new Larkinsons had witnessed her chopping off too many body parts to count! Even though she hadn't actually killed anyone, the nonchalance she showed during the selection process proved that she was an experienced butcher!

The sight amused Ves a lot. It also disappointed him a bit. Much of his cohort of mech designers should have been uncommonly brave or firm. Despite that, the mere sight of a single female mech designer with a sword caused all of them to relive their past trauma!

"Alright." Ves eventually clapped. "Good morning everyone. I hope that all of you are satisfied with your new accommodations. While you all deserve to sleep in separate cabins, we don't have enough room aboard this ship. I hope you can endure these necessities."

All of his assistant mech designers were notable and accomplished talents. None of them signed up for an adventure like this, but sadly Ves was not an average employer!

As newly-adopted Larkinsons, they had no choice but to put up with the circumstances.

"Ketis, how have these fellows shaped up during the welcome tour?"

"They're doing a fine job, Ves." She casually replied. "I think all of them will make for fine Larkinsons."

"What about their battle readiness?"

Her smile disappeared. "Frankly, horrible. During the welcome tour, we hardly enjoyed any opportunities to drill. In the event of an alarm, the fools are liable to run into each other rather than reach their assigned posts!"

"I see. Let's address this first. Ketis, I want you to coordinate with the captain of the ship to hold intensive, randomized drills in the next couple of weeks. No matter if it happens in the early morning or in the evening, I want everyone on this ship to become familiar with what needs to be done in the event of a disaster!"

"Got it, Ves!"

This was a necessity aboard any ship. Back when he worked for the Flagrant Vandals, he took part in sporadic drills that initiated at random times. The reason why the Vandals hadn't conducted their drills more frequently was because most of their crews already knew what to do in the event of every conceivable emergency. They only needed to drill enough times to remain sharp.

That wasn't the case right now. The Battle Criers who crewed the ship might know how to react to various emergencies, but the new assistant mech designers probably didn't know the way to the nearest escape pods!

Shortly after that, the assistant mech designers went through hell. None of them had any opportunity to showcase their design prowess to Ves. They simply spent too much time on memorizing the various steps they needed to take in the event of an enemy attack or an explosion in the engineering bay.

If they weren't resting or studying, then they were often preoccupied with drills!

Ves did not allow his new assistants to do nothing except trying their best to stand out of the way. He wanted them to be proactive in assisting the crew in repairing critical damage or assisting in mitigating various disasters.

From putting out fires to replacing broken power cables, not every repair job required the services of a ship engineer.

All of the activity reminded Ves of the past. He too frequently lent a hand in the case of various emergencies. Though most of his new assistants didn't see the necessity in holding so many drills, Ves was sure that they would thank him later.

Increasing their stress levels, interrupting their sleep and forcing them to work on complicated equipment for hours at a time was the fastest way to raise them up to standard!

With less than a week of travel before the task force reached the outer periphery of the Nyxian Gap, disaster might strike at any moment.

Of course, as the man responsible for sparking all of these drills, Ves skipped out on them. He relaxed in his stateroom or quietly fiddled with his sketches at the design lab while his poor assistants were being worked to the bone.

In truth, Ves didn't just torture them in order to raise their battle readiness. He also wanted to increase their stress tolerance. Having lived through several battles, Ves knew that the intense pressure and uncertainty could break anyone who hadn't gone through combat training.

Though the drills weren't adequate substitutes to actual combat training, they at least sufficed.

During these stressful days, the assistants often vented their frustrations to each other.

"I already regret becoming a Larkinson!"

"I haven't slept more than three hours at a time!"

"Devil Tongue, indeed! I thought his moniker only reflected his speech, but it turns out he's a devil in other ways as well!"

Ves only derived further amusement when hearing these complaints. He wasn't worried that any of them would snap. The Battle Criers actually monitored every assistant very closely and built up an extensive profile of their ability to endure difficulties.

Perhaps the only other person who was allowed to skip some of the drills was Ketis. As someone who spent more than half of her life on a pirate ship, she was already an old hand at drills. She only needed to familiarize herself with the unique layout and ship components of the Scarlet Rose before she was ready to address most emergencies.

When Ves called her to the design lab, she sat down in front of her mentor.

"Meow!"

Lucky floated up to her lap, causing her to soften up. "Hehe! I miss you too, Lucky."

Ves smiled at the sight. "The two of us haven't talked alone for a while. How are you doing, Ketis?"

She shrugged. "I'm fine. I'm getting used to becoming a Larkinson. It still feels strange to me that my life has changed so much. I'm glad you're taking care of the Swordmaidens. They all love their new swords."

"Do you have any complaints or issues you want to address?"

"Yeah." She stopped playing with Lucky, causing him to look puzzled. "I don't know why you think I'm leadership material. Why are you putting me in charge of so many brats? They're so soft that the frontier would have eaten them all up in an instant! I really tire of babysitting them all the time. You once promised me you would give me enough time for me to design my own mechs and work towards my possible breakthrough to Journeyman. Well, in the last weeks, I haven't spent more than an hour a day on my designs!"

"Ah, that's my fault." Ves looked apologetic. "I needed someone to take charge of the new hires. You know how mech designers like us are. It's best for mech designers to lead other mech designers. I'm too busy to corral them all the time. You're the only one available that I can trust."

"I'm not your errand girl, Ves." She scowled and crossed her arms. "By now, the new hires don't need as much guidance anymore. I suggest you promote some of their ranks to team leaders and let them manage the rest in my stead. They're not delinquents, after all."

Ves looked interested. "You have a point. If they're responsible enough to manage themselves, then I am willing to give it a try. You know them better than I. Select 5 team leaders among the batch to lead our new design teams."

"How do you want to distribute the assistants among the teams?"

There were several ways to structure a design team. Ves was used to working with teams ranging from 4 to 6 people. This was a rather small but flexible size.

Ves thought for a moment. "Just spread out their specialties so that every team is as well-rounded as possible. I don't want to concentrate on specialties in different design teams."

"Are you sure? I heard you wanted to design a lot of mechs at once. From what I know, forming specialized teams and assigning them to projects on a necessity basis is a good way to achieve the best results."

Such homogenized design teams did indeed produce a lot of higher quality results. However, Ves did not believe it was compatible with his mech design.

"I design mechs by feeling." He replied. "I don't want every design team to contribute to specific sections of a mech design in isolation. Only by working on a project from beginning to end will every participant be able to instill their thought and emotion into the mech design."

If Ves followed the model suggested by Ketis and concentrated the same category of specialties in specific design teams, then his subordinates would just see the mech designs as discrete parts.

How can a collection of discrete body parts be alive?

Ketis eventually understood. "I see. I will take care of it, I guess."

"Good. After that, you can delegate most of the responsibilities that you're currently performing to the new team leaders."

"What if they screw up?"

"Then just demote them and put someone else in charge. Don't forget that leading a design team earns an assistant an additional 10 merits a year. This practically doubles their base merit earnings. There is no way those ambitious brats will forgo this opportunity."

The best way to motivate people was to dangle carrots in front of their faces. Ves was not afraid that his team leaders would mess up. Gaining this advantage early essentially set them up for success.

"Tell me about the people you have in mind. Are there any notable mech designers in the batch that I should pay more attention to than normal?"

Ketis paused for a moment. "There are plenty of interesting figures. I suppose the weirdest one is Rina Orion-Larkinson. She used to be a refugee from the Coman Federation. She's stuffed with augmentations, though most of them are fairly low-quality implants. She wants to replace as many of her current implants with second-class versions."

Ah. The Coman Federation used to border the Bright Republic before the sandmen fleets rolled in. Now, practically all of their settled planets were covered by sand!

The Comans were practically cyborgs and possessed some weird beliefs when it came to self-augmentation.

"What makes her interesting?"

"She's very ambitious. She's also very bossy. She frequently clashes with Catherine Evenson-Larkinson. Both of them are jockeying to become the leaders of their batch after me, though the other assistants don't particularly like either of them. Everyone sees each other as competitors."

"I see."

While Ves wanted to foster a bit of rivalry among his design teams, too much of it would only tear them apart.

"Let's group them into their design teams as soon as possible." He decided. "We can work on increasing their camaraderie within the teams as well. We'll tone down the drills once we enter Wreckage Paradise."

As much as he wanted to bang them into shape even further, Ves needed to put them to work! He already started a design project and would soon be forming even more. He urgently needed his assistants to earn their keep!