The Mech Touch novel Chapter 534

The Vandals moved on quickly after the two seperate burial ceremonies. Ves noticed that the Vandals had become much more honest and subdued after witnessing Chief Elin’s gruesome fate.

Before he took the shuttle back to the Shield of Hispania, Ves stayed behind on the Finmoth Regal for a few hours to take a brief round of inspection. As the head designer, Ves had access to all of the hangar bays, mech stables and mech workshops.

Vedette walked behind Ves in a subdued fashion as they took in the state of the maintenance department aboard the Finmoth Regal.

Ves took in the lethargic expressions of the mech technicians. All of them suffered badly from the revelation that Chief Elin and some of their colleagues dabbled in treachery. To the Vandals, betraying their fellow brothers and sisters in arms was the worst crime imaginable.

Even if the entire galaxy turned against the Flagrant Vandals, their bonds would never break!

"Take a look at these mech technicians at work, Mr. Vedette. What do you see?"

"Uhmm.. they’re not working as hard as before. Chief Elin used to be our ultimate boss. Without his presence, no one knows what to do."

"This is the consequence of your missteps." Ves bluntly said. "What is this section supposed to do?"

"They’re tasked with dismantling a partially-damaged the Inheritor."

"Why are they slacking off?"

The junior mech designer’s mouth gaped like a fish. Ves really wanted to smack the young man’s face for his indecisiveness.

"Remember who you are! You’re a mech designer, not a mech technician! These men and women should listen to you, especially now that they are devoid of a chief!"

"B-B-But I’m too new at this!"

"Your brains are ten times larger than all of theirs put together. Go out there and get those mech technicians back to work!"

Ves gently pushed Vedette’s back. Due to his enhanced body, this turned out to be a hefty push that caused the junior to stumble straight into the mech technicians.

"Eh? Watch where you are going!"

"Hey, it’s Vedette!"

The mech designer regained his balance and tried to speak at the mech technicians. "Guys, please go back to work. We’re way behind schedule, so please disassemble this mech."

The mech technicians laughed as if a little boy told them to scram.

"It’s our break time right now! We need our rest. Do you expect us to work around the clock? We’ll fall apart if we can’t enjoy some peace!"

"Get lost Vedette! Chief Elin isn’t here anymore, so go grovel to someone else!"

"This ain’t a place for you to hang around. Go back to your office and let us grease monkeys stew in the muck!"

Just around the corner, Ves palmed his face. Vedette’s lack of spine reminded Ves of that Vesian mech designer he met back in the outskirts of Neron City. Ves already forgot the name of that Novice, but the sheer lack of courage both men shared meant that neither of them had much of a future in the mech industry.

Normally, Ves didn’t care too much whether another mech designer possessed the grit needed to make something out of their mech design careers, but Vedette happened to be one of his subordinates. Even if he lacked any promise, Ves had a duty to do something about this sad state of affairs. The Finmoth Regal’s maintenance department couldn’t afford to proceed without any direction.

Ves stepped around the corner and slowly strode forward. He carefully composed his face and unconsciously channeled some of his inner steel.

The entire compartment experienced a drastic change in atmosphere. It wasn’t anything a sensor could measure, but when Ves stepped into view, the mech technicians instantly lost their jovialness.

"Ah, Head Designer Larkinson! Fancy seeing you here!"

All eight mech technicians stood at attention as if they faced Major Verle himself. In truth, Ves merely imitated the air of command that the mech officer projected so well during his speeches.

Inwardly, he nodded in satisfaction. Learning from the best may not always be the most appropriate course of action, but it always guaranteed a measure of success. He was satisfied enough with what he achieved.

"You mentioned your former chief back then. As I recall, we just chucked him out into the wrong direction of space. Do you know why we sent him out?"

"Uhhh.. because he was a traitor?"

"WRONG!" Ves barked, which instantly caused the mech technicians to shrink back. Unfortunately, Vedette reacted the strongest against his eruption. "Chief Elin was a piece of work, alright, and he was charged with many crimes. However, his most principle failure was his enormous negligence on the job! To put it into terms your tiny brains can understand, he failed to do his job!"

Everyone’s eyes widened. Though they understood the gravity of Chief Elin’s failings, they only treated it as something that had nothing to do with them. Certainly, they missed their former chief who acted as a firm but reliable supervisor to them, but they did not connect his failings to their own.

In the natural order of the galaxy, a mech technician stood in the lowest rung and followed the instructions of a chief technician. In turn, these chiefs received their instructions from a mech designer. _{freeweɓnovel.cøm}