The Mech Touch novel Chapter 273

The LMC moved quickly in the next couple of days. They hammered out an agreement with Elemental Mech Engineering while Ves finished deriving the silver label and bronze label versions of the original Blackbeak design.

Both of the mechs featured near-identical specs to the gold label version. Ves mainly simplified the complicated sculptured exterior into straight, smooth surfaces that wouldn’t be as much of a challenge to produce.

More specifically, he tweaked the silver label Blackbeak to go well with the Dortmund printer. He knew the capabilities of his equipment best, so he could easily retain any features that his company could still achieve on their own.

On the other hand, the bronze label Blackbeak truly represented a simplification of the original design. He not simplified the exterior even further, he also adjusted the internals to reduce the rate of errors.

For both designs, Ves did his best to retain their original X-Factor. Even though they’d lose much of their strength during the fabrication process, Ves still saw hope of some spark of survival in his products.

That was also an important factor why he went with EME. They offered the best hope of keeping the X-Factor alive.

He did his work on the flight back to Cloudy Curtain. Ves saw no need to remain at Bentheim. He wanted to get back to the workshop and start on processing his latest orders as soon as possible.

Three days later, the Barracuda landed at his home planet’s spaceport. Ves and his entourage entered an armored shuttle that brought him back to home.

He idly played with Lucky while Melkor stared out of the viewscreen. Meanwhile, Gavin quietly corresponded with the office the LMC recently established in Bentheim.

For now, the branch in Bentheim focused on marketing and liaising with EME. Ves expected the branch to hire a lot of people to manage all of the responsibilities on its shoulders.

That reminded Ves of Raella’s lengthy absence. "Where is Raella now?"

"She’s having the time of her life, I bet." Melkor sighed, rubbing his visor with his palm. "Her parents won’t approve of her boyfriend. Dietrich isn’t exactly an upstanding citizen."

Ves shared his cousin’s concerns. "I don’t get what Raella sees in him. She can do much better."

Neither of them really understood girls, so they merely scratched their heads and remained clueless.

At least they understood mechs. Ves turned his attention back to his designs. The silver label and bronze label designs acquired the code names BP-B-01 and BP-C-01 respectively, making it clear where they placed in the hierarchy of the Blackbeak product line.

"Melkor, you’ve been keeping touch with the other Larkinsons in our generation, right?"

"I am. What do you want to know?"

"What do they think about the upcoming war?"

"It’s an opportunity to make their mark." Melkor stated, as if the horrors of war meant nothing to him. "We’ve been raised on the stories of our parents and grandparents about the glory they earned from the battlefields of yesterday."

"So you think it’s your turn now. Aren’t you all afraid of losing your lives along the way?"

"If we die, we die. No Larkinson has shied away from death." Melkor stiffly declared. "It’s our greatest responsibility to fight on behalf of the family and the Republic. No matter how tough it gets, we will never falter."

Ves had never underwent the kind of training that the potentates in his family had received. He found the blind devotion a little disconcerting.

It reminded him of Barley’s unyielding loyalty to the Exilis Domain.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that mechs depended on their human pilots. It didn’t matter if a state boasted huge numbers of high quality mechs. Without a motivated fighting force, all of those mechs would collapse at the first blow.

In the endless wars that had been fought during the Age of Mechs, plenty of upsets had occurred. There were even times when a loose alliance of third-rate states had turned the tables against a technologically and numerically superior second-rate state.

These examples showcased the importance of raising everyone’s morale. Ves realized for the first time how deep his family had committed to the Republic, and how much he missed out due to his inability to pilot mechs.

The shuttle eventually arrived at the workshop. Ves strode straight to the workshop with Lucky in his grasp.

"The boss is back!"

"Congratulations for your win, boss!"

The mech technicians laid down their work and applauded Ves like a hero who achieved glory on the battlefield. Ves considered these men and women to be his closest employees, so he took his time to smile and speak some words about his experience.

Eventually, he sent them back to work called over Carlos and and Chief Cyril.

"I heard about the licensing thing from administration." Chief Cyril spoke first. "Are you truly willing to let the Blackbeak be produced by someone else?"

"Missing out on those potential sales is even worse. It’s best if we can do everything in-house, but if not then there’s nothing wrong with leaning on a third-party manufacturer. These kinds of arrangements happen all the time."

Chief Cyril shook his head. "They happen all the time, alright, but they don’t always end well. Mechs are highly complicated products that require the right equipment and the right people to produce. I can tell you a dozen horror stories at the top of my head where mech designers got duped by unscrupulous manufacturers."

"We’ve done our due diligence." Ves replied. "The contract we signed with EME is also fairly strict about these matters. They won’t get away if they decide to pull the wool over our eyes."

EME’s persisted in keeping their licensing fees as low as possible. Perhaps aware that their offer wouldn’t be attractive, their negotiators relented on everything else, so long as it didn’t lower their potential earnings.