The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1259

Ves swore the Mech Designer’s Oath in front of the bottomless well and uncomfortably close to a contained mass of antimatter.

He was sure there was a lot of symbolism behind this arrangement, but the meaning of it escaped him at the moment.

The android recited the oath for Ves to repeat. To his credit, he swore the oath as sincerely as possible. Overall, the oath was rather plain and condensed many of the MTA’s core principles.

"...I swear to put my mech design abilities at the disposal of mech pilots, and never attempt to place myself above them. I will do my best to reward their trust in me by designing sound mechs that mech pilots can entrust their lives to in battle. I will never steal or claim credit for any achievements made by mech pilots who pilot my mechs..."

"...I swear to present my mechs to mech pilots and other clients in a truthful manner. I will not employ deceptive practices that obfuscate or exaggerate the actual performance of my works. I will always explain my mechs in a manner which mech pilots can understand, and avoid confusing them with an excessive amount of technical jargon..."

"...I swear that I will respect the contributions of my fellow mech designers. I will not steal, borrow or make use of their methods unless I properly credit their sources. If my work is a derivative of another mech designer’s work, I will accept any arrangements made by the MTA to properly remunerate the original mech designer or developer. In no circumstance will I ever plagiarize the works of others..."

"...I swear to abide by the rights and responsibilities of galactic citizenship. As a responsible galactic citizen, I will respect the rights and responsibilities of other galactic citizens..."

That last part was very peculiar to Ves. While he swore to abide by a bunch of rules whenever he interacted with a galactic citizen, his oath did not obligate him to do anything special towards those who didn’t enjoy this status.

What this basically meant was that Ves could kill a bunch of space peasants and the MTA probably wouldn’t care!

Ves couldn’t help but think back to the Aeon Corona Mission. Back then, Major Verle, Captain Byrd and all the other mech officers explicitly warned them all that they should carefully respect the lives of the descendents of the original crew of the Starlight Megalodon.

Now he knew why the Vandals were so insistent. Without exception, every CFA serviceman was a galactic citizen! Their children were galactic citizens as well!

As space peasants, the Vandals enjoyed a much lower status than the crew of the Starlight Megalodon. While they were allowed to defend themselves against hostile galactic citizens, they were not allowed to encroach on the rights of galactic citizens without a good reason!

Ves knew that he hadn’t treated some of the descendents of the original crew very well. Still, he took comfort with the knowledge that the dwarves were so far removed from the original crew of the Starlight Megalodon that the CFA probably didn’t regard them as galactic citizens anymore.

How could the elitist CFA ever bring themselves to recognize savage, stinking dwarves as their equals?!

At the end of the swearing ceremony, Delta-Gina symbolically held a projected badge of galactic citizenship which flew into his heart.

[At this moment, you are officially registered as a galactic citizen. As a tier 12 galactic citizen, you enjoy the most basic recognition of every major human organization in the galaxy. Your spouse, children, apprentices, heirs and other people will not be conveyed with galactic citizenship. Please study the full rules at your discretion.]

Ves nodded in understanding. There were twelve tiers of galactic citizenship, and he had been bestowed with the most basic one. He would have to become one of the higher leaders of the MTA or become a Star Designer in order to become a tier 1 galactic citizen!

That was way too far away!

Delta-Gina gestured towards the floating ball of anti-matter. [Now that you have gone through the induction process, you are now cleared to learn confidential information that the Mech Trade Association has made available to Journeymen.]

The android sounded a bit more solemn, as if she had been programmed to convey the gravity of the information that she was about to reveal.

[The Mech Trade Association desires you to keep everything you are about to learn to yourselves. Do not discuss these matters with anyone except mech designers directly in our service. You will be stripped of galactic citizenship and be subject to strict punishment if you violate our confidentiality demands.]

"I promise to keep what I’ve learned here confidential." Ves replied seriously.

Delta-Gina wasn’t satisfied with a verbal promise, and served him a very strict-looking projected non-disclosure agreement. After skimming through the document, Ves found out that the MTA would make his life absolutely miserable if he spilled their secrets!

Naturally, he still signed the NDA.

Once Delta-Gina found everything in order, she began to reveal the first secret.

[You are cleared to learn two pieces of confidential information, Mr. Larkinson. First, I will briefly describe the origin of extraordinary power of Journeymen, Seniors, Masters and Star Designers.]

This definitely attracted his attention!

Delta-Gina waved a hand, summoning a projection of various remarkable mech designs performing faintly above their apparent technical parameters.