The Mech Touch

c.
The Flagrant Vandals would be able to gain preferential treatment from them.
The Vandals counted on this to be their deliverance after this ordeal was over.

”What happens next? ”

”That depends, Mr.
Larkinson.
We ’ve captured an expert pilot at a very great cost.
If I was the Major, I would be very eager to trade her away for some much-needed concessions. ”

”Major Verle is going to try to play the rebels against Hafner, I bet. ”

”He ’ll be playing a very dangerous game.
The thing about negotiating is that it works best if nobody is aware of what others want.
Right now, it ’s plain to see that every side wants. ”

The Flagrant Vandals wanted to cross the borders.

The Hafner Duchy wanted their precious expert pilot back.

The rebels wanted to weaken the Hafner Duchy.

”The negotiation is going to be a dance. ” Ves guessed.
”Each side will go through the motions, but I think everyone has already settled on an outcome. ”

”The process is still important.
It can decide whether we ’ll enjoy the bulk of the rewards or if our rebel partners will lay claim to the lion ’s share of the spoils. ”

From what Ves could see, the only way to please all three sides was to involve everyone in the same transaction.
Venerable Foster was the main prize.
While it would have been better for the Bright Republic to deny her release, she wasn ’t very useful to the Vandals.

It was like having access to a huge bank account.
Would the impressive figure be able to save his life if someone pointed a gun at Ves?

No!

Right now, the Vandals desperately needed to raise their strength.
Trading away an expert pilot despite the huge threat she posed to her enemies in the future was more attractive than squirreling her away like a lump of precious ore.

Considering the sheer value of a young and healthy expert pilot, the Hafner Duchy would likely be willing to bleed really hard to get her back.

Of course, the Vandals hadn ’t been able to capture her by themselves.
Peace for Hafner helped a lot in the background, from providing actionable intelligence to sabotaging the Hafner forces from within.

Their help was especially valuable at the end where their double agents caused the garrison fleet to waver at critical moments! Therefore, the interests of Peace for Hafner shouldn ’t be neglected.

Besides, considering that the Verle Task Force was about to enter the Reinald Republic, making the rebel group happy was an important concern.
Though no Reinald official ever confirmed the rumors, it was pretty much an open secret that the rebel groups operating in Hafner space were Reinald ’s sock puppets.

”I hope that we ’ve got some competent negotiators among our ranks, then. ” Ves muttered.
”In any case, these mechs won ’t get serviced by themselves.
Let ’s get to work, shall we? ”

Ves took stock of the damage together with Chief Haine.
He studied the abuse the landbound mechs had suffered from the blunt force impacts from the rampaging monsters.
Though he only inspected a small sample, the damage looked worse than he thought.

The beasts possessed a weak defense, but a powerful offense! Any mech that tussled with the monsters of the Kamwin continent up close required a complete disassembly.
The main reason for this was that in some cases, the internal frame had been affected!

”It ’s going to take multiple days of work from an entire group of mech technicians to fix one of these damaged landbound mechs. ” Ves concluded morosely.
”That doesn ’t sound so bad if only a handful of mechs require such treatment, but we ’re talking about close to two-hundred machines here. ”

Chief Haine had been right that the Vandals didn ’t plan on fighting anymore landbound battles for the foreseeable time.
However, Ves did not believe that everything would end once they reached the Reinald Republic.
He already started casting his gaze on what the task force would be doing next.

”Will we really be returning to the Bright Republic for a lengthy downtime? ”

Somehow, Ves did not believe this odyssey would end so soon.
At the very least, the matter with Lord Javier and his secret presence aboard the Shield of Hispania foreshadowed a continuation of their secret movements.

”What ’s so important about Lord Javier and why is it so important to reach the Reinald Republic within a certain time? ”

Ves still couldn ’t connect the dots despite the vast amount of data at his fingertips.
In fact, the awful state of the Vandals made it clear that they weren ’t ready for another major operation at all.
He dearly hoped that bigwigs didn ’t have another difficult mission in store for them once they reached the end of the journey.

After taking stock of the situation at the hangar bays, Ves returned to his office to draw up a new schedule.
The original one he composed more than a month ago was plainly unworkable considering how much the Vandals had been set back.

When he entered his office, Ves saw that Iris wasn ’t present at her desk.

”She ’s probably helping with the negotiations. ”

Ves wondered if he would soon be saying goodbye to Iris.
Now that the Vandals were about to reach their destination, they had no need to trade for favors from the rebel movements that made themselves home in the Vesia Kingdom.

Realizing that she would soon be out of his life, Ves realized that he would miss her presence.
She had been of great assistance to Ves.
Not only did she introduce him to neural interface technology, she also deepened his understanding of Vesian culture and military.

”I ’ll have to prepare a farewell gift to her. ” He affirmed to himself.
”Perhaps once the war is over, she ’ll finally smarten up and give up on her unrealistic dream to turn the Kingdom away from feudalism. ”

Ves chuckled to himself.
Sometimes he had the feeling that nothing would ever change.
The Bright Republic and Vesia Kingdom would likely look the same a hundred years from now.

He wouldn ’t know what to do if something changed.