The Mech Touch novel Chapter 955

Once Ves and Chief Haine ascertained a huge problem in the amount of Vandals who lost their loved ones during the mission, they quickly brought it up to Major Verle.

To his credit, the commanding officer acted fast. Through accessing the records and through informal inquiries, the security officers quickly sought out every serviceman that posed a risk.

While not everyone appreciated being grabbed from their posts or their bunks by some armored goons, most of the crew showed understanding. They already heard about the attempted assassination attempt on Ves. What if these unhinged servicemen lashed out to the people next to them? What if they decided to go out with a bang by sabotaging a core component of the ship?

Within a single day, the security officers took over seventy basket cases into custody. Some resisted. Some even discharged their weapons. None of their resistance made a difference.

By the time the fleet emerged in a quiet star system close to the Aeon Corona System, the Gorgon’s Gaze underwent the same upheaval.

As for the Jaded Sword and the two Swordmaiden light carriers? No one heard anything amiss from their ships. The Swordmaidens possessed a much sterner outlook on matters of life and death. Their harsh training along with the realities in the frontier already inured them against tragedies.

"If only the Vandals are as mentally resilient as the Swordmaidens."

If the surviving Vandals all underwent the mental resilience training sessions that Ves had devised on the ground, perhaps they wouldn’t be so susceptible to their darker thoughts. Yet almost no one except Captain Orfan survived.

Having spent a long time working and fighting alongside the Vandals, he became intimately familiar with their good and bad points.

Ves liked them for their relaxed, liberal, tolerant and inclusive nature towards the conduct of their own men and women.

Yet compared to proper soldiers such as the Larkinson veterans that he often interacted with back on Rittersberg, the Vandals also seemed to fall short in many ways. Being treated as damaged and abandoned goods by the Mech Corps at large depressed their confidence and made them feel as if no one appreciated their earnest efforts.

This actually posed a huge threat to the Vandals whenever they suffered a major loss. In ordinary circumstances, the Vandals would never be involved in high-risk operations like this, so that was also why they were a bit slow on the uptake this time.

Fortunately, Major Verle moved quickly enough to take out the risk factors and made several moves to stabilize the morose morale that began to engulf the Vandal ships.

The most important measures to provide closure to the Vandals was to rush the military funeral ceremony.

Same as last time, the crew aboard the Shield of Hispania almost all filed into the largest mech hangar bay. Projections of the crew of the Gorgon’s Gaze appeared in their midst as well.

Previously, the projections of the crews of the other ships had to be shrunk in size to make room for all the Vandals.

All the losses they suffered made that measure redundant. This only further emphasized that the Vandals lost many thousands of their own people.

The huge disparity made the hangar bay seem so empty and hollow.

Ves stood solemnly besides Chief Technician Haine and Chief Engineer Avanaeon. Shortly after his return from his negotiation session with Commander Dise, he realized that it would be inappropriate to continue wearing CFA colors and insignia.

He personally paid a visit to the armory and asked Chief Mandelsen to recoat his custom XV-99 Squalon in the dark green colors denoting his status as a mech designer in the service of the Mech Corps.

The new paint job covered up and removed the lieutenant commander insignia and all of the other symbols associated with the CFA. In their stead came the insignia that stood for his current position as head designer, technically temporary, and the sigil of a burning city that stood for the Vandals.

"You look a lot better now in your new colors. I don’t feel as if I’m within the company of a poncy CFA officer now." Chief Avanaeon remarked quietly as Vandals kept pouring into the hangar bay.

Ves smiled at him. "CFA officers aren’t as bad as they seem. They are only rather stuck up in the presence of space peasants."

"Is that how you see us now that you’ve ascended into their exalted ranks?"

"Don’t joke with me, chief. I’m still a citizen of the Bright Republic. I won’t be picked up by the CFA anytime soon."

The banter quickly died down as soon as everyone filed into ranks. In contrast to the last major funeral ceremony, only a single space coffin rested in the center.

In a major deviation from standard protocol, the Vandals who fashioned the coffin amplified its size by more than a dozen times. Ves heard that the coffin had actually been fashioned out of scrapped mech parts!

Such a huge coffin covered by the black-and-burgundy colors of the 6th Flagrant Vandals imposed a suffocating presence on the people present.

The ceremony started with a trumpet and a band of musicians playing a solemn tune. This helped up everyone in the appropriate mood.

When Major Verle finally stepped up to the raised podium, not a single Vandal showed any unruliness.

"This coffin resting before you stands for those we lost at Aeon Corona VII. Many of our fellow brothers and sisters will never see the light of the galaxy again, but are instead buried forever on the surface or in orbit of that deadly, forbidden planet."

The man spoke on for ten whole minutes. His simple, unpretentious speech lacked the usual tricks and wordplay intended to pump up everyone’s morale. This time, the losses were far too severe for the Vandals to get over them with a single ceremony.