[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 436: Left Behind

This further depressed the general mood in the Republic and made it seem awfully empty at times.

On Cloudy Curtain, Calsie watched over the premises of the Mech Nursery. The white-faced office structures blended harmoniously with the trees planted in their midst. They also neatly hid the ugly forms of Sanyal-Ablin's defensive turrets.

She looked a far cry from the college graduate from before. She underwent a minor makeover that made her appear more mature, though the wisps of youth was still present under her makeup. She wore a white power suit that mentally stiffened her spine. She sorely needed all the help she could get in order to browbeat the different interest groups involved with the LMC to comply with her directives.

Somehow, she managed. Running a company as its temporary boss wasn't easy, but she enjoyed plenty of help.

Under her tentative leadership, the company largely followed the same trend as before. The Living Mech Corporation had just expanded its number of production lines from three to five. This allowed the company to produce the silver label Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords without excessively neglecting either of the two highly sought after mech models.

The doors to the penthouse office suddenly opened, allowing Melkor to enter the expansive space. The maturing Larkinson was the only other person besides Calsie who possessed unfettered access to the office that used to be occupied by Ves.

"How is the training coming along, commander?"

"The 'rookies' we've recruited have are starting to show signs of advanced coordination, ma'am. They've always been ready for battle, since we only signed up experienced mech pilots, but it's hard work to get them to unlearn their previous routines and get them to adopt our own."

"Will the Avatars of Myth be able to repel a company of the 5th Vavulan Chasseurs if they come again?"

"Not quite, ma'am. The Chasseurs are a battle-hardened mech pilots with centuries of tradition to guide them. They aren't pushovers and they won't be cowed by the current state of my men. It will take years of training to get to that point. The only edge we have is our advanced mechs."

The Avatars of Myth employed the Crystal Lord in greater numbers than anyone else. Not only did they possess four exclusive gold label copies, they also fielded a whopping twenty silver label Crystal Lords.

Fabricating them all out of the LMC's own pocket cost the company a lot. Almost the entire board of directors howled when Calsie and Melkor came up with the plan, but they pushed through regardless of the pain. At least Grandpa Benjamin remained ambivalent about the matter.

Naturally, the LMC also spent itself broke by expanding their number of production lines. They had no choice but to go further into debt, with the excuse that the company would be better off with the extra defenses.

Though the LMC's mountain of debt had ballooned, the production lines had been put to good use. Mechs started flying off the premises as fast as they could produce, and the extra per-unit licensing fees streaming in from the third-party manufacturers did much to reassure the frazzled Financial Department.

"Do you think we've moved too fast?" Calsie asked as she turned away from the window and its marvellous view. "I've taken the company into a direction that won't make Ves very happy. We're knee-deep in debt and heavily reliant on our partners to keep the sales volume of our prodcut lines high."

Melkor dismissively huffed. "Ves is a little too selfish for his own good. He expects everything to dance at the palm of his hands. I'm not an expert in business, but from what I see, the faster we get things done, the better we're all off. We needed those mechs in our hands as fast as possible."