The Mech Touch novel Chapter 506

Major Verle finally explained his solution to Ves. "Rules are rules, but the mission is more important. Exacting justice on the offenders might soothe your conscious, but it will only weaken our strength."

"That sounds as if you favor a slap on the wrist." Ves carefully said, though he couldn’t stop from frowning. "From my impression of the Vandal mech technicians, there is a large proportion of bad apples among them. They won’t stop trying to take advantage of the system."

The Mech Corps never sent any promising people to the Flagrant Vandals. Everyone had their issues, and the mech technicians wasn’t exempt from this problem. While the chief technicians mostly helped rein in their small-minded thoughts, chiefs could only keep their eyes on so many things.

"As I stated, the most important priority is to maintain our strength. The best way to do so is to stop the embezzlement without affronting the so-called masterminds as you call it. This can be done by adopting both solutions, but at different timings."

Ves tried to wrap his head around the idea. He started to get his eyes on a glimpse of such a plan. "Warn them first, and crack down hard if they persist?"

"In essence, that is correct. Call it starting from a clean slate if you will." Major Verle nodded. "First, in order to minimize the unrest, it’s best if we do not give out the impression that we have locked onto their scent. Instead, you can come up with a scheme where you’ll claim to introduce a new resource tracking system to replace the old one. The men won’t question this change because it’s typical for a new boss to implement bold ideas."

"It’s going to take a lot of work to replace the software, sir." Ves carefully pointed out. "It’s not something that can be done in a day."

"That’s even better! The ideal transition time should be a week. That’s enough time for everyone to clean up their acts and sweep their misdeeds under the rug. Once the new system is in place, everyone should have made up their minds. Those who are smart or careful may have gotten the message. It’s not a coincidence that the resource management system has received an overhaul."

"What about those who haven’t gotten the message, sir? Maybe the embezzlers are shrewd, but there are a fair amount of low-level people involved who aren’t as perceptive. There’s also the greedy ones who don’t wish to relinquish their power."

Major Verle leaned back on his chair and waved his hand. "Idiots like these who scorn the opportunities I’ve given to them to start with a clean slate don’t deserve any consideration. We’ll investigate them and throw the book at them for any offenses they’ve committed after the new system is in place. I’d rather have them out of way no matter how important their positions are because I can’t trust these scum to have my back in a fight."

In other words, the idiots that continued to hold small thoughts did more damage than what they contributed back to the Vandals. Major Verle wouldn’t be merciful to these cancerous growths.

The contempt sounded obvious in the major’s voice. Ves looked impressed at the commanding officer of the task force for coming up with such an elegant solution. It contained both mercy and resolve, and throughout it all it ensured the Vandals maintained their best strength.

"I understand now." Ves nodded, his eyes shining bright. "Still, some important people might get caught at the end. Their absence might affect the task force’s condition more than the absence of a few mechs."

That was the sticking point with any solution that advocated for crackdowns. Even though Major Verle’s suggestion provided a lot more leeway, it still needed to be backed up examples. If someone like a chief technician got caught, then the maintenance department of an entire combat carrier might fall into chaos.

"There is a limit to our patience. We need to send the right message and draw a line in the sand. It’s fine if people are playing tricks, but once they are caught, they better look honest. This was Colonel Lowenfield’s stance when she first reformed the Flagrant Vandals."

"I understand. Thank you for telling me this, sir."

"It is good that you’ve brought this up to me shortly after you have discovered this. An issue of this nature isn’t something that you should decide on your own."

Ves and Major Verle hammered out the details in the next half hour. Ves needed to borrow some people and receive the right authority to push through this overhaul, which Major Verle directly granted in his name. With Verle backing this decision, it wouldn’t take more than week to update the resource management system, though it would take some time to iron out the wrinkles.

After Ves left his stateroom, he came out of it with a much better impression of his superior. The man patiently explained his thoughts during the discussion and decision-making process. This allowed Ves to understand his priorities.

The overarching message was that their survival and the completion of the mission ranked as the highest priorities. Major Verle wouldn’t have bothered with this relatively small case of embezzlement if hadn’t affected the overall strength of his forces. He also didn’t appear to feel compelled to act on it in times of peace.

Sadly, times had changed, and the Bright Republic had been plunged into war. The Flagrant Vandals successfully completed an operation that slapped the Vesians in the face, and now they were on the run.

Under these conditions, it was no surprise that Major Verle pursued every possible solution that could raise their fighting strength.

With a new set of orders in store, Ves returned to his office and prepared a proposal. The most challenging aspect about the change was that Ves needed to find the right software to replace the old one. The central database that Ves now had access to offered more than a dozen software packages. It gave Ves quite a headache to dig through the jargon.

Still, Ves only spent a few hours before he picked a replacement package. Now he needed to implement it throughout the entire task force.

"Iris."

"Yes, boss?"

"Please schedule an immediate meeting on this ship to every mech designer in the fleet. Set the time at half an hour after we drop out of FTL."

Iris looked startled. "Uh, do you want to invite every mech designer, or only the high-ranking ones?" _{freёweɓnovel.com}