The Mech Touch novel Chapter 643

The day after the banquet, the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia’s Swordmaidens hadn’t killed each other yet. Though the Vandals still smarted from their abject defeat against the Swordmaidens in the sparring arena, neither side went over the line.

Mostly, the Swordmaidens succeeded in cowing the Vandals into keeping their hands to themselves. If they intended to frighten the wits out of them, the women had definitely succeeded.

The top leaders of both forces held confidential talks up until the late night shift. Besides their inner circles, the rank-and-file remained wholly ignorant of the substance of their talks.

The Flagrant Vandals were already accustomed to secrecy, while the Swordmaidens generally let others do the thinking.

In any case, both the leaders and their subordinates seem to mesh adequately with each other. Though tensions would doubtlessly flare if they remained confined in a single room, there was no issue with remaining polite to each other. As long as neither side felt the urge to shook or chop the other side in half, then sufficient progress had been made.

Neither Commander Lydia nor Major Verle expected their subordinates to become friends with each other. The differences in background, culture and goals prevented them from growing too close.

They hadn’t solved their problems concerning coordination either. The two adopted completely different command styles. While the Vandals expected orders to be carried out with a measure of interpretation, the Swordmaidens mostly didn’t bother with complicated maneuvers at all!

Instead, the Swordmaidens generally followed those they trusted. Relationships were tight between the sisters, and the officers among them enjoyed sufficient prestige to command the women.

Following the orders of others was out of the question. Even if the Flagrant Vandals knew what they were doing, the Swordmaidens never placed their trust in others. People from the frontier learned early on to never place their trust in others.

When the Swordmaidens departed from the Shield of Hispania, they left a couple of liaisons behind. Mayra somehow managed to convince his bosses to leave Ketis under his care. She promised to get in touch with the Skull Architect as soon as possible, but he was a difficult man to get ahold of, so arranging a meeting took some time.

"What will I do with you?" He sighed as he greeted Ketis in the morning. Major Verle acted entirely too nonchalant about the liaisons. Besides preventing the Swordmaiden mech designer to get in touch with classified Vandal secrets, Ves received broad discretion over how he treated her. "Well, at least you’re not the first guest designer that I’ve brought under my wings."

He still missed the company of Iris Jupiter. The Vesian rebel was smart and tactful to the point where Ves regarded her as his equal. Her insights into neural interface technology granted him a crucial inside look in a sensitive field among mech designers.

The difference this time was that Ketis likely didn’t know anything useful to him, at least in the area of mech design. As a recently graduated Novice, she was at the stage where learned the basics but lacked practical experience.

"Tell me about your studies." He began. "Mayra explained to me that you’ve been tutored by her, right?"

Ketis nodded. "I didn’t go to any fancy school. They don’t exist in the frontier. Mayra made me go through virtual classes from the galactic net. According to her, I’ve passed enough classes that would make me graduate from respectable mech university."

"I see." Ves did not put much stock in that achievement.

The quality of virtual classes tend to approach the lowest common denomination. That wasn’t to say that it was impossible to become a mech designer through these classes, but studies from the MTA had shown that people who depended entirely on virtual learning never advanced beyond the Apprentice rank.

Anyone could cram the basic fundamental sciences required to become a mech designer. However, without practical experience and the imparting of the more esoteric aspects of the profession, knowledge alone couldn’t elevate a bookworm into a designer of mechs. It just made the recent graduate smart in some of the sciences.

This was why there was such a drastic difference between the higher institutions. The Rittersberg University of Technology where Ves had graduated from was almost as worthless as the virtual classes that Ketis took.

The key lay in the fact that mech design was a craft. In other words, it involved art as well as science. Many people bandied about this expression without realizing what it actually meant, but this crucial statement expressed the duality of learning how to design a mech.

It wasn’t enough to memorize a lot of books!

This complexity distinguished the good schools from the bad ones. Rittersberg may be the capital of the Bright Republic, but it couldn’t hold a candle against the Ansel University of Mech Design on Bentheim when it came to raising successful mech designers. And this was also why many mech designers dreamt of attending the Leemar Institution of Technology in the Friday Coalition.

Therefore, Ves had good reason to doubt Ketis’ qualifications. Still, she might possess a redeeming factor. Enjoying the personal tutelage of a Journeyman Mech Designer was an advantage that many would fight over. Depending on how well Mayra had taught the craft to her protege.

Ves briefly developed a plan on what to do with Ketis. First, he needed to take stock of her abilities. "I’m sure you know the basic sciences. What I don’t know is if you have what it takes to design a mech."

"I’m not a kid anymore, you know!" She barked, brandishing her fists. Ves unconsciously stepped backwards, afraid she would abruptly release her sword from her scabbard. "I’ve passed all my classes! I’ve serviced hundreds of mechs! I watched Mayra design and tweak the Misty Slasher and her other designs for years! Let me do some real work for a change!"