The Mech Touch novel Chapter 575

The repair businesses the Flagrant Vandals went to bed with all operated out of large workshops. As the Vandals started transporting their damaged mechs to the workshops, Ves constantly had to rotate in between the workshops to prevent the people there from screwing things up.

"Don’t let this mech lay on its back!"

"Where’s the weapons on this mech? It came here with a sword and shield, what do you mean they never arrived?!"

"Goddammit, we contracted you to fix these mechs up, not damage them even further due to rough handling!"

The level of service that each of the five repair businesses provided was worse than Ves had thought. Over the past several days, he realized he had still been a little too naive about the types of characters that operated these joints.

Ves had thought that the repair businesses would operate akin to the maintenance departments of the Flagrant Vandals or another regular mech regiment. At worst, the owners ran their businesses like the workshop of a mercenary corps.

In actual fact, sometimes Ves felt as if he returned among the ranks of Walter’s Whalers. The sheer level of idiocy and sloppiness truly astounded him. How could these repair businesses even stay afloat with this level of service?

"No wonder why most of them charge so much. It’s not just to rip off their customers, but also to compensate for the incredible amount of inefficiencies in their operations."

It wasn’t as if the owners liked to run a tighter ship, but the problem was that they didn’t know how. As head designer, Ves threw his weight around whenever he visited their workshops, and he often got to meet with them in person.

All of them appeared to be exactly as he expected, mech designers or chief technicians who lacked the competence to work for more prestigious organizations.

The most loathsome of the bunch was a former chief technician called Lester Tobruk. He bought up a bankrupt repair business on the cheap and somehow hadn’t managed to ruin it yet, though it hadn’t grown any further either.

The mech technicians that Mr. Tobruk employed all followed after their boss. They lacked the skills, discipline or temperament to get hired by the military or a private outfit. Even the worst gangs rejected these abject failures.

"The repair industry is the trash heap of the mech industry." He concluded. "This is where all the losers go when they can’t get any lower."

Hounding the incompetent employees whenever they misstepped was extremely frustrating and tiring for Ves. Eventually, he shifted over this responsibility to the other mech designers. Though they weren’t as eagle-eyed as Ves, they at least possessed the skills to spot something wrong in time.

Mech designers who used to work in the private sector caught on quickly enough. People like Pierce only needed a few guidelines to do an adequate job in supervising the repairmen and direct the Vandal mech technicians to lend a hand as well.

"This is kind of a sad thing to see." Pierce shook his head as he watched a repairmen clean up after spilling over a barrel of liquid coolant. "In the Friday Coalition, the lowest standard of mech technicians is the same as a mech technician from the Mech Corps. This is only the starting level, and it’s barely enough to work for a small-time gang in Coalition space."

Ves sighed. "Your Friday Coalition is larger and more prosperous than dozens of third-rate states. You guys have the luxury of training aspiring mech technicians to a higher standard. We don’t have the population and training methods to match your standards."

"The Coalition isn’t my home anymore. It’s wrong for you to call it my state."

"You still enjoy Coalition citizenship, do you not?"

"I’m only an average citizen of the Gauge Dynasty. If not for my father, my citizenship would have been revoked. The Gauge Dynasty is extremely strict on these kinds of matters. As the most powerful partner in the Coalition, too many people wish to be a part of them. An exile like me doesn’t deserve to be counted among the strong."

Hearing Pierce put himself down all the time really exasperated Ves. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of a way to cheer up his colleague. This was because they measured their self-worth according to their capabilities. Even after he borrowed a couple of books from the central database, Pierce had only improved by a snail’s pace despite receiving a couple of free tutoring sessions.

From what Ves had observed, Pierce’s potential might not have been exceptional, but his learning ability was still within an average range. The only problem was that he competed against his brilliant siblings ever since he was born. The shadow they cast upon his mind had affected his mentality.

At least Pierce could perform his latest duty without problems. The same could not be said for some of the other mech designers. The careerists in particular had a tendency to overestimate the competency of the repairmen. They were too used to somewhat disciplined mech technicians that had gone through basic military training.

"Why are you bothering me with this duty? It’s pure babysitting, sir!" Mercator yelled at Ves. He didn’t even hold back his overall contempt at Ves and his current locale.

"You either do your job, or take responsibility if you don’t. The lives of our mech pilots depend on the condition of these mechs."

"These grease monkeys already signed a contract with us, sir. I don’t see the need to spend so much effort on supervising them. It’s redundant!"