[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 415: Public Persona

"If you don't have any other suggestions, why not let the LMC sort this problem out on its own?"

Ves would have liked to select his own spokesperson, but he had a feeling he would be gone very soon. "Very well. Put it on their agenda and make sure they select someone by the end of this month. Once the bronze label Crystal Lords are beginning to appear on the market, we need to be more active in our promotion."

They didn't discuss anything else that evening. Ves was too tired and hit the sack soon after. The next day, a fateful message arrived at his comm.

It was the message that portended his next step in life, for good or ill.

"The Mech Corps is calling."

Ves briefly checked the galactic net and saw that a lot of other mech designers received the same message as well. The Mech Corps formally called up the second wave of mech designers to fight for their state.

Despite knowing that this day was long in coming, Ves still felt uneasy about it. He heard so many second-hand stories about mech designers in the Mech Corps that he didn't know if he should believe them all. He also didn't know if the Mech Corps valued him enough to assign him to a meaningful role.

"There's no use dragging this moment out."

Although the message granted its recipients a generous amount of time before they needed to report to the Mech Corps, Ves wanted to get in early. He learned that tip from a classmate in school.

"Arriving early demonstrates your dutifulness and shows you care."

The Mech Corps constantly kept watch over its mech designers. Those who showed signs of disgruntlement and dragged their feet in their work tended to be transferred away from a research base and be sent straight to the frontlines.

However, before he submitted himself to the Mech Corps, Ves planned to make one final visit. He raised his comm and called up Melinda.

"Hiya Vessie." Melinda greeted him, though not with a smile this time. "I heard about what just happened. You're joining the war, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Ves nodded. "Don't worry about me, I'm not going to be picking up a weapon anytime soon."

Melinda still looked worried. "You should still watch out for yourself. The Mech Corps looks strong on the outside, but it's made out of countless cliques that fight over every scrap of resources they can get. That's one of the reasons why I opted to join the Planetary Guard. It's much simpler here, since we're only responsible for defending a single planet."

The burden of defending more than a thousand star systems at once fell heavily onto the shoulders of the Mech Corps. It was a difficult job to juggle at the best of times, but once you factoring in the limited amount of funds and resources it had at its disposal, then internal fights often broke out.

Mech pilots being what they were, it wasn't unheard of for hem to punch each other in their faces. Even upper echelon would sometimes be guilty of this, as they all used to be mech pilots themselves. They learned their entire life how to develop their aggression and channel it against their opponents.

Learning how to compromise came much later in their careers.

"Since I'm going to be cut off from everyone very soon, I'd like to pay a visit to you. Are you free for today?"

"Hm, it's all hands on deck at the Planetary Guard right now, but we recently stepped down from the highest state of readiness. As long as ask around for some favors, I can probably clear up a couple of hours in my schedule. Is that alright?"

"That sounds great!"

A couple of hours later, Ves arrived at a stately-looking condominium in the middle of Dorum. Melinda's current apartment was actually one of the rewards he dangled out for her in exchange for piloting the Blackbeak in the duel against Captain Vicar's Havalax.