The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1569

Chapter 1569 Prideful Soldier

The suggestion to scout useful mech designers and other notable helpers sounded intriguing to Ves.

Now that he thought about it, many of the refugees fled in haste. They came from all walks of life, but because of the crisis they had all devolved into confused and frightened humans.

The sandman did not discriminate by wealth, class, rank or profession. The tides of sand washed over everyone regardless of their human qualities!

He briefly checked his comm to research his options.

A problem quickly emerged. He found out that he couldn't just hop into a shuttle and fly to one of the many recently-built farming settlements to pick up a useful refugee or two or something.

Only approved vehicles were allowed to approach the settlements!

The government strictly wanted to cordon them off until they systematically processed the destitute foreigners!

"This is a policy from the central government, so it's not possible to gain access by bribing the local politicians." Ves noted. "I think they want first dibs on the talents and highly-skilled people."

Ketis tilted her head. "Can't we just sneak inside and smuggle out the people we want?"

"We'll get into legal trouble if we do that. The government hasn't sorted the refugees yet, but they did perform some basic registrations, which included taking names, images, blood samples and etc. We'll be in a fair amount of trouble if our actions get exposed."

"Why not ask for a favor from the central government?" Gloriana suggested. "Didn't you say that the Bright Republic sees you as an asset now? Something as small as claiming a number of refugees is trivial in their eyes. Out of the billions and maybe trillions of refugees your state received, I don't think they'll mind letting a handful of them go beforehand."

"Hmm.. I think you have a point. This might be a hidden opportunity for those with connections or favored by the Republic to obtain some benefits."

The state definitely wouldn't quibble since they already employed a lot of talents. What the government probably wanted to achieve was to reward the power players who made the courageous decision to support the Bright Republic in its time of need.

"I'll tell Benny to make the arrangements." Ves stated and composed a quick message to Gavin.

He saw no need to contact the relevant officials in person, though he suggested his assistant to approach Leland first. Flashlight alone could probably accomplish the job.

Gavin and Leland belonged to the same side anyway, so Ves did not expect any problems from that end.

"Damn spies." He muttered.

"What was that, Ves?"

"Ah, nothing. Anyway, let's leave the refugee recruitment aside for the moment. Regardless if we manage to recruit a couple of new mech designers, we still have to integrate them into our organization. That will take a month or so at least. So for now, let's just assume it's just the three of us working on the three variant projects."

That was a paltry amount of manpower for three different projects. Even if the Prideful Soldier required relatively little work, the other two variants could have been standalone mech designs due to all of the work they demanded.

Time management was a very important aspect of project management. Ves was very well aware that the sandman invasion imposed very harsh time constraints on any mech designer.

Mech pilots needed his new variants as soon as possible! The longer it took for him to complete their designs, the more opportunities he missed to expand his influence!

After an extensive discussion, Ves and the other two mech designers formed a basic plan.

First, they would allocate a single week to design and release the Prideful Soldier.

Second, they would work concurrently on the Militant Soldier and the Peaceful Soldier project. Although both of them were very different projects that required different approaches, Ves believed he could manage to juggle two of the projects at once.

"It will be a bit challenging for us to match our mental focus on the right project at the right times." Ves warned Ketis and Gloriana. "However, this is also a form of training for us. Maintaining concentration is one of the key demands of working on projects where I'm involved."

Both of them had worked with Ves long enough to realize this condition. The girls were also smart enough to infer some of the things that Ves only hinted at. Gloriana especially caught on fast due to her unwavering belief in his abilities.

"We'll have to alternate on the projects in unison." Gloriana remarked. "If Ves and I work separately, then we won't be able to achieve the synergy we want. Ketis here can make some checks and refinements on the other project in the meantime. What do the two of you think?"

Ves strongly agreed, though Ketis appeared more reluctant. She was pretty much being sidelined, but that was also because her design ability couldn't catch up to the two Journeymen.

Overall, he was fine with this approach. While juggling multiple projects at the same time imposed a mental burden on all of them, sometimes it was better to pause working on a project.

The extra time allowed them to reflect over their design choices even if they worked on something else.

There was no room for patient deliberation if they constantly rushed to complete a single project at a time. A lengthy pause would just extend the time of completion.

"Alright!" Ves clapped with a smile. "Now that we formed a plan, let's get to work! We should tackle the Prideful Soldier first!"

Ves reread the document sent by the Ministry of Defense.

"The goal of the Prideful Soldier is to develop an alternative to the Dutiful Soldier. Mindef has outlined some suggestions, but we don't have to follow all of them. The only basic requirements that we have to follow is to make it cheaper and less obnoxious than the base model."