The Mech Touch

outsiders found it difficult to place a value on the LMC.
However, business analysts loved to speculate.
Their estimates of the company ’s total worth had continually been adjusted upwards.

Last Ves had checked, the fortune tellers pinned the LMC to be worth around fifteen to thirty billion credits.

This was a huge amount.
This was because it got a hold of a lot of expensive assets and licenses without incurring a huge amount of debt.
The company also earned a lot of profits because its expenses were relatively modest if you left out depreciation.

The only factor that doused investor enthusiasm was that the company heavily relied of Ves.
Once he stopped publishing successful designs, the LMC ’s would certainly collapse like a house of cards.

Overall, investors preferred to put their money in mech companies that employed a variety of mech designers.
Even if one designer produced a flop, the other designers could pick up the slack.

Still, Ves hated parting with his shares.
This was his company.

”I ’ll put the first suggestion up for discussion at the next board meeting.
You ’re right that we have to expand our production quickly, but we have to be careful not to chew off more than we can handle. ”

Even if Ves didn ’t take out a loan, his company would still follow an upward trajectory.
They ’d miss a lot of opportunities if they took the cautious route.

Sometimes you needed to take the plunge.
If he was okay with risking his life on expeditions, then he should not be too timid to allow the LMC to take some risks as well.

Jake agreed with that sentiment.
”This is great news.
I ’ve also consulted with Chief Cyril and narrowed down a handful of choices for hardware to fill up our manufacturing floor.
Take a look. ”

Ves browsed the third document on the pad.
It contained a small list of different printers and other fabrication machines.
He briefly ran over their specs and found them to be adequate, though they couldn ’t quite compare against his current setup.

”Their quality meets the standard, if only barely. ” He admitted.
”These production lines should be equivalent to what EME is running, right? ”

”That ’s correct.
Your young friend Carlos has a deep understanding of their production lines when he acted as our liaison.
It ’s a system that ’s similar to ours and it works.
Why come up with our own when there ’s already a practical setup before our eyes? ”

”Well, there ’s a danger to blindly copying other people ’s setups.
I ’ll take these models into further consideration. ”

Right now, Ves had little time to spare for these issues.
Even if he found it necessary to expand the company ’s production, he could leave most of the work to his subordinates.
As long as he held the final say, the situation wouldn ’t grow out of control.

Once Jake left his office, Ves sent the list of equipment back to his chief technician and ordered him to write up a report of what the best setup would be.
”Since he picked out all of the models, he should surely know which ones fit the company best. ”

He handled some paperwork after that.
The outbreak of war had changed the whole fabric of society in the Bright Republic.
Some of the wartime provisions already came to being, which meant that the LMC had to change the way it operated to comply with the restrictions imposed on the company.

The last thing the Republic wanted to see was a domestic company inadvertently supplying the Vesians.

An important notice arrived in his comm.
The government finally approved the establishment of the Avatars of Myth.

”That was fast! ”

Ves had the sense some bureaucrat rubber-stamped his application once they recognized his name.

Him having a personal force was no different than he Larkinsons forming their own fighting force.

Even though the Avatars of Myth had officially come into being, the outfit didn ’t have any members as of yet.
Ves rectified this situation by calling up Melkor to his office.

Once his cousin arrived, Ves showed him the approval notice.

”Avatars of Myth, huh? ” Melkor mused, trying to sound out the name.
”I hate to say it, but your naming sense could use some work, because it sounds as if we ’re all trying to compensate for something. ”

Both of them laughed a bit.
In practice, the names hardly mattered as long as they remained recognizable.
Outfits with sillier names constantly appeared every day, like the Freckled Ponies or the Barbeque Saints.

”In any case, now that we ’ve passed the most important roadblock, I ’d like to fill in our roster. ” Ves continued.
”Let ’s start by gathering a cadre in a single basic squad of eight mechs. ”

”It ’s easy for you to say so, but without any mechs of our own, I don ’t believe we can appeal any mech pilots that are skilled. ”

The vast majority of mech designers didn ’t own a mech.
Those that did often owned cheap rust buckets worth less than 10 million credits.
Ves had no need to incorporate such garbage mechs in his ranks.
He wanted to form a crack troop of loyal soldiers, not a motley crew of mercenaries in all but name.

”Two of the eight mechs will consist of gold label Blackbeaks.
As I come up with new designs, the Avatars of Myth will have first pick.
Right now, a premium rifleman mech design is on its way. ”

Melkor frowned at Ves.
”How long will it take? ”

”Around three months. ”

”That ’s too long.
With the war breaking out, the mech pilots who are worth their pay are rapidly being snapped up by the Mech Corps or the other outfits.
I ’ll have to move fast if I want to secure some talents. ”

”You have full authority to use whatever to entice these talents to the roster.
Just make sure they ’re loyal. ”

”That is a given. ”

”As for the mechs, for now I ’ll release some funds for you to purchase some other mechs.
I ’m fine with filling out our roster with other designs as a temporary measure. ”

”What ’s my budget? ”

”Don ’t spend more than 30 million credits for each mech. ”

”What?! ”

Leaving out the two Blackbeaks that Ves would supply on his own, that meant that Melkor suddenly possessed the power to spend 180 million credits.
The mech pilot could hardly get a grip on the dizzying amount of money.

He had never spent more than a couple of thousand credits at a time!