The Mech Touch

Ves and Admiral Chelsea Mieli did not negotiate for too long.

One of the issues that hindered them from going too much into detail was that neither of them knew how much actual decision-making power Ves would gain over the RC.

Since all of this remained unclear, the secret agreement that Ves drafted with Admiral Mielie would remain mostly informal until he gained the authority needed to put it into action.

Still, it was quite advantageous for Ves to form an understanding with the Red Fleet. The distance between him and the fleeters instantly became reduced now that he had shown his willingness to cooperate with the RF and vice versa.

Aside from trying to negotiate more benefits for the RF, Ves also made sure to convince the fleeters to give him and the Larkinson Clan additional… privileges.

This would work out in various ways, from the Larkinsons being able to earn Warship Tokens with less effort to obtaining more technical support when developing new warships.

The fleeters, or at least the reformers among them, would naturally get what they wanted as well.

No matter what position Ves attained in the Red Collective, he would use his authority and his political capital to strive for greater cooperation with the Red Fleet.

Making sure that the RC established the so-called 'Artifact Warship Department' was the minimum requirement that Ves had to meet in order to unlock subsequent forms of cooperation.

If he was not able to accomplish this basic demand, then the fleeters would no longer deem him qualified to work together.

All in all, Ves and the reformers among the Red Fleet shared enough goals in common to forge a promising alliance.

Even if this cooperation contradicted the interests of the Red Association, Ves didn't care. He appreciated the mechers, but not enough to consider himself to be a part of their ilk. That made his dealings with the fleeters more important. Only when he was able to take advantage of both groups and play them against each other would he be able to maintain a state of relative independence.

As Ves shook Admiral Mieli's flawless hand, he made one additional inquiry.

"By the way, I have heard that Captain Zonrad Reze is being considered for promotion at the moment."

The woman looked slightly surprised that he would bring this topic up. "That is true. Captain Reze is one of my subordinates, so I am well aware of his case. He has made invaluable contributions, but he has also acted less than properly, and not only once. ARCHIE values him highly, but any promotion of flag rank cannot only be determined through merit and key performance indicators alone. We have convened a board to discuss and cast our verdict on his complex case."

That sounded rather concerning. Sigrund was the only 'fleeter' that Ves truly knew and trusted.

The higher the secret AI's rank within the hierarchy of the Red Fleet, the more Ves could take advantage of the situation!

"Will it help if I put in a good word for Captain Reze?" Ves asked. "He has been a great liaison to me so far. He not only taught me that there is a lot of goodwill within the RF, but he is also highly competent in science and engineering, particularly in the fields of software and automation. I can easily foresee a future where we can collaborate together on projects that can benefit both my clan as well as the Red Fleet."

The older woman registered Ves' clear preference towards working with the current captain of the Babylon Excavator.

"Your endorsement does help to sway my opinion, but it may be counterproductive if I pass it along to the other members of the board. Not every fleeter sees you as an ally. I can only give you a tentative promise that I will see what I can do. If the captain receives a promotion, he shall obtain command over a small squadron that will be assigned to your protection."

"I appreciate the help."

After surviving the Battle of Mazepan, Ves no longer felt as annoyed at being 'protected' by the forces of the Red Two. He could think about surrounding himself with powerful protectors from the Larkinson Clan after he built up a strong and robust first-class mech force, not before.

He retired for the night now that he had concluded his meeting with the admiral from the Red Fleet.

On the morning of the next day, Ves ate a meaningless breakfast while Gavin presented his itinerary for the day.

"The founding ceremony of the Red Collective will commence in two days. We must use the time we have left to increase your popularity and leave no doubt who must lead the Upper Council." The personal assistant stated.

"I agree."

"To that end, I have taken the initiative to accept interviews from over a dozen different publications. Each of them are able to reach a different audience, and put emphasis on different topics. As long as you handle the interviews well, you will be able to give much of the public a preview of where you will lead the Red Collective if you are in charge. Since you are not a full-time politician, I do not advise you to lie or try to take multiple stances on the same issue. You will not be able to execute such advanced operations well enough to fool the public."

"I think you are underestimating my eloquence." Ves grumbled. "Still, I will follow your advice, if only because I cannot be bothered with political nonsense."

Gavin gave Ves a reassuring smile. "As long as you maintain consistency in your stances and offer a compelling narrative that can win over the support of a large proportion of the people, you should be able to strengthen your legitimacy within the Red Collective. Aside from going on a press tour, you should also meet with your constituents shall we say. You are the man of the hour at the moment, so you should be able to drop by any establishment and talk with the people who live, work or visit over there. This is not only a good opportunity to show that you care about the common folk that form the backbone of your political support, but also open yourself up to feedback from humans that you normally do not come into contact with. It is an excellent way to prevent yourself from becoming out of touch with ordinary civilians."

That sounded too much like what a slimy politician would do. At the very least, Ves did not feel enthused about visiting meaningless places and holding useless talks with random people.

"I don't entirely like it, but… I trust you enough to know what is best. As long as it increases my chances of successfully claiming the seat of the chief councilor of the Upper Council, I will put my best face forward and act like it matters."

That caused Gavin to pause and stare directly at Ves. "You do care, right? Have you lost your empathy somewhere during your attempt to climb up the ladder?"

That was not a simple question to answer. Ves initially wanted to brush off this question by telling Gavin what he wanted to hear, but it would be unfair and unwise to act dismissively towards a trusted advisor and confidante.

Ves briefly thought about how his thinking towards the common folk had changed over the years.

"I think… I am becoming more like the high-and-mighty figures that I used to curse back when I was a simple Apprentice or Journeyman." He honestly admitted. "I think this is an unstoppable trend. The higher I climb, the more responsibilities I assume. I am no longer charged with the protection of just my clan. I also hold a lot of responsibility towards our entire civilization. When you constantly have to think about how my actions affect the wellbeing of an entire population, it is very hard for me to care or spend any moment of my time on the plight of individual citizens."

"So you have lost perspective."

"I wouldn't necessarily say that, Gavin. A better way to describe it is that my perspective has zoomed out. I have given up on caring about individual citizens, but have gained a lot more perspective towards the overall state and wellbeing of humanity as a whole. I do not think this is a bad trade as I can do a lot of good stuff that can benefit our entire race. The release of my Carmine mechs is a fantastic example of this. I can still improve the lives of ordinary people through my work. I just work at an entirely different scale nowadays."

His assistant thought over Ves' words. "I understand what you mean. As your assistant, I am also faced with similar issues. The messages that I pass on to you can change the course of history by influencing your perception and decision-making. It is not easy to hold this responsibility, especially after my most recent augmentation. It takes much more conscious effort to remind me that real people become affected by my work."

Ves shrugged. "Enough about this. Let's get back to business. I can understand the need for publicity stunts, but we also need to meet with the representatives of important stakeholders. I have already won the fleeters, or at least a faction of them, over to my side. I should also meet with other groups. At the very least, I need to meet with a representative of the Hunting Association before the date of the founding ceremony. Has there been any progress with arranging a meeting with those hunting addicts?"

"I do not think it is wise to speak of the Hunters in disparaging terms, boss. As for a meeting, I have successfully managed to arrange a relatively short appointment with a vice director of the regional headquarters of the HA after serious difficulty. The HA is not too enthused about opening up a dialogue with you at the moment."

"The Hunters are probably annoyed at my incessant complaints about their ambivalent stance towards the Red Collective. They probably know that I want to meet with them in order to find a resolution to this ongoing issue."

"You do know that they will not bow down to you, right?" Gavin asked. "The Hunting Association has the backing of a powerful god pilot. It does not need to rely on any other shelter in order to do well. As long as the Hunters have no strong incentive to submit to the Red Collective, they will continue to act on their own regardless of what we think."

Ves briefly frowned. "Don't rule me out yet. I just need to talk to someone important enough within the Hunting Association to gain a chance to turn this situation around. Now that I am fresh off my latest product reveal, the Hunters should have a considerably higher respect towards me than before. As far as I know, many Hunters are norms who can only effectively enjoy their hunts by relying on their bodies and personal equipment alone. Now that they can pilot Carmine mechs, a lot more Hunters can tackle the biggest and most prestigious prey. They should owe a lot of gratitude towards me for giving them this gift."

Ves needed to enter the Hunting Association's headquarters and personally gauge people's gratitude towards him. The more they respected and admired him for giving them a way to pilot a real mech, the more leverage he obtained!

This should at least soften the estrangement between Ves and the Hunting Association and open up tentative new possibilities for cooperation where there was previously none.

As much as the Hunters revered the beliefs of the Huntsman, the god pilot was not the one that bestowed them with the capacity to pilot Carmine mechs.

Ves was the person responsible for bestowing them with this precious gift!

The implication here was that Ves should deserve the same respect as the Huntsman!

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