The Mech Touch

"The Dawnbreaker is by far the most suitable mech for our needs." Commander Magdalena elaborated when Ves fell into thought. "I'm aware that you're not entirely open to the idea, but it is not my intention to make things difficult. It is just that from an objective perspective, the Desolate Soldier is not enough to ensure the Living Sentinels can protect the Larkinsons and the LMC from danger once the sandmen reach this star system."

The Sentinel Commander even handed Ves a data pad. It contained an extensive analysis on which mechs the Living Sentinels should procure in order to strengthen its combat ability against all kinds of threats.

While the Dawnbreaker performed exceptionally well against the Sandmen, it was not as good against human forces. For this reason, Magdalena only asked to equip a single mech company with the mechs designed by his competitors.

Even so, this was forty mechs too much for Ves. He really wanted to avoid this decision, but the analysis performed by the Living Sentinels was very sound. They compared the prevalent mech models on the market that met their needs.

Out of the hundred or so midrange rifleman mechs, the Dawnbreaker clearly stood out at the top. While the mechs designed by other Seniors and Journeymen were no slouches, most of them were older designs that had been adapted to fight other mechs.

They lacked the innovations and optimizations that made the Dawnbreaker into an incredibly powerful solution against the aliens. In some studies, the effectiveness of the Dawnbreaker against the sandmen was a whopping thirty percent higher than comparable mechs that cost the same!

Such a huge difference was too much for the established competition to overcome! Sales of older models plummeted as the Dawnbreaker greedily absorbed their market share!

For this reason, Ves did not find much in the analysis performed by the Sentinels. Even a nine-year old kid could come up with a way to justify the purchase of Dawnbreakers due to the incredible value they provided.

If Ves put his selfishness and his ego aside, then he had no choice but to admit the Living Sentinels benefited most from adopting his competitor's product right now.

Of course, Ves could also decline the offer and design his own midrange mech, but was that even useful?

He didn't think so. The Dawnbreaker already occupied this role so well that there was little demand for something comparable.

The Desolate Soldier already fulfilled a necessary function on the battlefields with its glow. Adding a second glow from a more expensive mech did not bring much added value.

The private sector could already choose between the Prideful Soldier and the Desolate Soldier.

The Ylvaine Protectorate already bought so many Holy Soldiers that they were starting to run short of available mech pilots.

The Mech Corps recently gained the option of fielding their own mechs with glows in the form of the Militant Soldier.

The Planetary Guard organizations all welcomed the Peaceful with open arms.

William Urbesh was already making a splash at the front with his Resentful Soldier.

One mech design and so many variants already occupied a small but significant proportion of the mech market. However, all of this came about due to a combination of moving quickly and offering something indispensable to the war.

Now that both of these advantages had been spent, any mech design he came up in the future would have to justify its existence. The competition had already caught up in publishing anti-sandman mechs designs!

If Ves wanted to swing the pendulum of the Sand War, then he needed to come up with a product that fulfilled a different role.

That was for later, though. Ves turned his attention back to Commander Magdalena and made his choice.

"I have already given you permission to decide your own procurement." He said. "I'm thankful that you've run this decision by me, but I respect your judgement. Your arguments are sound and the addition of the Dawnbreaker will certainly increase the chances that the LMC will be able to survive this crisis. I have no valid reason to object to your proposal."

Magdalena relaxed her shoulders a bit. "Thank you, sir. To be honest, many of my Sentinels are looking forward to piloting the Dawnbringer. It's not that they hate the Desolate Soldier, but it is not a mech that matches well with highly-skilled mech pilots. We are still fielding plenty of Desolate Soldiers, but they are mainly reserved for our lesser-skilled mech pilots who originally specialized in landbound mechs or ranged mechs. Sentinels who are already proficient in spaceborn ranged mechs will feel much more at home in a mech that offers more higher-end capabilities."

Perhaps he should feel humiliated. Perhaps he should feel inadequate. After all, which mech designer could remain unaffected if their own subordinates favored a competitor's product over their own?

Yet Ves did not particularly care that much now that he issued his verdict. He knew in his heart that he made the best possible choice for the LMC and Living Sentinels.

Protecting their lives and defeating the sandmen came first. Satisfying his vanity came second.

His justifications offered him enough relief to lift the weight on his heart.

He did not consider his choice as an admission of defeat. Instead, he simply considered it as a consequence of being short on time. A mech designer could spend enough time on designing so many mechs.

Ves and Magdalena discussed some of the details about the procurement.

"We should also purchase a few hundred standalone Sandbreaker rifles and accompanying ordnance, sir." The Sentinel commander proposed next. "No offense to the rifle you've paired with the Desolate Soldier, but the Sandbreaker is plainly superior when employed against the sandmen. It's also fairly affordable. Many outfits and even the Mech Corps have already started to adopt this new weapon system!"

Now that Ves had gotten over the first dilemma, he did not feel any shame in accepting this second proposal.

"Acceptable. I'm aware of the effectiveness of the Sandbreaker in the Sand War and I do not want to deprive your Sentinels with this admittedly fantastic solution. I think it is probably the third-most important innovation in the war after the introduction of starfighters and my Soldier product line."

Again, Ves could decline Magdalena's request and develop his own dedicated ballistic rifle design, but what would that accomplish?

It was nigh-impossible for Ves to top the efforts of a Senior who specialized in ballistic weapons. He would just waste a lot of time and energy to design an inferior product that attempted to fulfill a role that was already occupied by an existing product.

For this reason, Ves did not have any qualms about outfitting all of his mechs with the invention of his rivals.

He would much rather preserve his life and his assets when the Living Sentinels beat the crap out of any sandman fleets that targeted the Cloudy Curtain System!

"I have a third suggestion."

Ves groaned. "It doesn't end."

The older woman chuckled in a lighthearted manner. "The most important decisions are often difficult. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bring them up to you in the first place."

"You're right." He sighed. "Let's hear it, then."

"Commander Melkor shares many of the same ideas as us. The Avatars of Myth don't want to be left out. In general, the Avatars are much more talented than the Sentinels. They deserve to be equipped with the best that you can afford."

"What does Melkor want, exactly?"

"The same as us. He wants you to phase out the Desolate Soldiers in favor of Dawnbreakers. He also wants to adopt the Sandbreaker as the default weapon system of the Avatars deployed in the front."

Ves did not immediately answer. Instead, he recalled his own priorities with regards to the Avatars before issuing his judgement.

"I will allow the latter, but not the former."

Just as he predicted, Commander Magdalena did not take that answer well. "Why? You agreed to upgrade the Sentinels. I don't see why you want to deprive the Avatars of better mechs."

Ves calmly crossed his arms and leaned back in his office chair. "It's because the Avatars need to prove themselves. I don't expect much from the Sentinels, but it's a different case when it comes to my elites. Do you know how much money I'm swimming in right now? If I really want to, I can equip my Avatars with mechs that cost 500 million credits per copy. Do you know why I declined to open my wallet in this case?"

The Sentinel Commander wasn't stupid. "You're testing the Avatars. You're using the Sand War as a crucible to forge your Avatars into battle-tested warriors."

"Correct. Before my Avatars are worthy to pilot superior mechs that they can use to crush any inferior mech, they need to prove that they can defeat their opponents with skill and determination."

"Isn't that asking too much, though, sir? While your Desolate Soldiers are fine mechs, they are a bit too fragile to keep up with the evolving battlefield. The sandmen are learning and improving. The situation at the front is incomparable to what it was like a few months ago. Since our enemies are constantly improving, we should at least keep up with their pace."

"That's a valid argument, commander, but for now the casualties suffered by the Avatars is well within my tolerance." Ves started to grin. "In fact, I'm pretty impressed by how well the Avatars managed to persist in these increasingly unfavorable circumstances. I think that they can excavate a lot more potential if they continue to meet their challenges with my Desolate Soldiers."

"You're playing with lives, Ves. I don't like the direction you are taking with the Avatars." She confronted him directly.

Ves shrugged. "It was their choice, remember? Those who value their lives have already made the decision to transfer to your Sentinels. Those who remain in the Avatars must accept my arrangement without question. That is the rule. Besides, the Avatars aren't the only ones who are toughening it out with budget mechs. There are countless outfits fielding Desolate Soldiers, but you don't hear them complaining. If these lesser mech pilots are okay with their machines, then the Avatars shouldn't complain either."

"I'm surprised that none of the Avatars have cracked."

"They're not suffering all of these hardships for nothing, commander. They all know that once they have proven themselves, I'll invest considerable money and resources into them to elevate their piloting ability and upgrade them into second-class mech pilots. This is such an attractive lure to ambitious mech pilots that they are gladly risking their lives to earn a shot at greater glory!"

By offering this incentive, Ves was very confident that his Avatars would stick to his arrangements. Which third-class mech pilot didn't dream of piloting a higher class of machines?

This was a fatal attraction!

Even if Ves risked losing half of his Avatars, at least he got rid of the unlucky and the incompetent. The mech pilots who managed to survive the Sand War would form the new core of the Avatars.

With their proven loyalty and commitment, Ves was not afraid of suffering from any defections once he invested in their growth.

While it sounded fairly brutal, this was a very fair arrangement in his eyes. Ves believed that no employer could offer any incentive that was as attractive as the one he offered.

Perhaps the only reward that could surpass this precious opportunity was to guarantee a mech pilot's advancement to expert pilot!

Sadly, Ves was nowhere close to developing a method that could accomplish such a heaven-defying feat.

He had plenty of ideas, but he was critically short on test subjects.

The discussion between Ves and Magdalena quickly petered off. Once Ves made his choice, the Sentinel Commander wasn't able to sway his mind.

"I'm already doing the Avatars a favor by permitting them to replace their old weapons with the Sandbreaker rifles." Ves remarked. "If Melkor isn't happy with this concession, then he can come back from the front and tender his resignation. While I commend his care towards his men, this is not the time to be soft."

The Avatars had to prove themselves, or die trying. Ves accepted nothing less.