In the standard territorial depiction of the Komodo Star Sector, the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom were situated at the northwest portion the map . Any ship that travelled further northwards reached the borders to the vast frontier .
The Tarry System was located at the southern portion of the border between the two warring states . It anchored a vast stretch of low-value star systems with scarce resources and even scarcer population . The Tarry region therefore held limited value even for the Vesia Kingdom, because they would need to allocate far more mechs to garrison the region than what was economical .
This didn't mean that the Vesians ignored the border region entirely . Sometimes, desperate nobles shied away from the heavy fighting at the center of the border . On paper, the Tarry region only held a couple of mech divisions, so it should have been an easy target .
The truth turned out to be different . Located far away from Bentheim or Rittersberg, the Tarry divisions sat at the far end of the supply lines . Nevertheless, they learned how to make the most out of limited resources . The sheer amount of distance from the political and economic centers of the Republic granted the Tarry divisions a lot more leeway on how to operate their mechs, and they did well in adapting to the circumstances .
"From what I heard about the Tarry divisions, they form their own faction within the Mech Corps . " Ves explained in front of Laida and Pierce . The strength he displayed during the training sessions elevated him to the forefront of their little group . "They're often the last divisions in line to receive new upgrades or additional resources . I think this is the case for us as well . There's no getting around the fact that we are the least desirable mech designers of our batch . "
Somewhat surprisingly to Ves, the other two designers accepted his assertion without any challenge . Both Pierce and Laida encountered many disappointments in their lives .
"Let's make the best of things . At least we aren't being accompanied by some Journeyman Mech Designer that wants to boss us around . We can relax throughout the journey . "
Ves studied the appearances of his newly assigned colleagues . Pierce looked similar to what Ves looked like before his various enhancements . Though he appeared rather skinny, his eyes reflected a very keen and measured mind . He possessed a black mop of hair not too different from Ves, though he let the grooming bots style his hair in a very neat and slick fashion .
As for Laida, Ves felt as if he faced a timid cat . The young woman's body language displayed her lack of confidence that shouldn't be present in Apprentice Mech Designers . She possessed dull light brown hair which was styled in a plain and boring bun . Her standard green uniform added a bit more sharpness to her body, and if not for her slouch, she would have looked moderately attractive .
Ves met a handful of female mech designers in his life . Those who achieved some success always held their heads up high and asserted themselves in some way .
For example, despite being just a Novice back then during the Leemar Open Competition, Miss Barakovski acted like she was a queen among peasants .
Patricia on the other hand acted in a more enigmatic fashion . Both at Rittersberg and at Leemar, she acted as if she was no one special, but her stellar performance made it impossible for anyone to dismiss her presence .
Therefore, Ves really didn't understand why Laida put herself down like that .
Through some prodding, they got to know each other a little better . Ves expected that they would be working together from now on, so it was important for him to establish a good rapport with designers of the same level .
Ves shared some of history to the two designers . What they found most impressive with Ves was his willingness to partake in dangerous expeditions .
"I don't have the guts to do the same . " Pierce admitted with a rueful expression . "Mech designers aren't meant to be out in the field . "
Ves understood the sentiment . "That's true in the strictest sense, but sometimes you won't be able to achieve your dreams without putting in some extra effort . With so many mech designers out there doing the same things over and over, it takes a lot of inspiration and a unique perspective to stand out from the crowd . The rewards are also good as well . "
"It's too dangerous . Sorry, but I don't agree with you . Better designs come from hard work . As long as you study hard and apply your knowledge well, you should be able to achieve more solid results . "
That only worked up to a point, Ves thought, but he didn't argue the point . Instead, he asked the other man a question . "You're an Apprentice as well, right? What kind of work did you do since you graduated?"
"I worked at at a major mech manufacturer and joined their design teams . It wasn't as large as the ones where we are heading into . The lead designer did most of the work and assistants like me only played a role in the debugging process . "
"How good is the lead designer?"
"Oh he's really good . He's old but he's a very seasoned Journeyman Mech Designer . He often stopped by to teach some points to us . I really benefited from his tutelage . "
Unmentioned by Pierce was that the Journeyman Mech Designer likely held an ulterior motive for doing so . The way Pierce spoke about the leader designer didn't carry a lot of endearment .
Likely, the Journeyman wanted to catch the attention of Pierce's father .
There was nothing wrong with that in his eyes . Both Pierce and the lead designer benefited from such an arrangement . The only problem was that it didn't look as if the lead designer succeeded in his goal .
"What kind of mechs have you worked with?"
"I have an extensive amount of experience in working with several different types of landbound mechs . I've taken part in the design process of at least eight different types of mechs . "
That sounded very impressive, though it was easier to do when you spread the workload over multiple designers .
"Sounds like you have a lot of experience working in a team . " Ves nodded . "I only worked on my designs on my own . I've never really collaborated with others when it came to developing an original design . "
While Ves admired Pierce's experience in working on many collaborative projects, the other two mech designers expressed their own admiration to him for relying on himself to develop a functional design .
Pierce let out a weary sigh . ""Even with my experiences, I only ever attempted to publish a single original mech . I couldn't get the lead designer to release the funds for me to fabricate a prototype . It wasn't a commercially attract product, he said . "
It wasn't easy to make the jump from taking part in a collaborate project to designing mechs on your own . Ves only managed to do so by acquiring years worth of knowledge with the help of the System .
"If you want to design your original mech, there's no substitute for learning the theories on your own . Teaching can only go so far . "
"I know . I have access to plenty of reading materials, but the things I need to learn are too much or too hard . "
"Even so, at least you have access to them . THat's a lot better than what most mech designers enjoy . "
After learning just enough about Pierce, Ves turned to Laida, who had been listening quietly all this while .
"What about you? What's your story?"
"I graduated from the AUMD . "
It turned out she excelled in school in Haston and succeeded in applying to Ansel on a scholarship . This was extremely impressive for someone who grew up in Haston .
Still, Laida didn't talk too much about her experiences in the AUMD . She skimmed over her years in school and skimmed through her graduation .
"After that, I found a job at a design studio . I chose to specialise in designing aerial mechs, so I became involved in all of the designs that could fly . "
"How many designs have you contributed to?"
"Over twenty different designs . "
"That's a lot . "
"It's not that impressive . Design studios work differently than mech manufacturers . We developed as much designs as possible, and many of them consisted of variants that shared a lot of things in common . Only one out of ten of our designs are licensed . The rest end up collecting dust in an archive . "
Even so, Laida must have gained a lot of experience in working with different mechs . This was the norm for mech designers that worked in a team .
Though Ves still thought he had the edge in terms of independent design, he probably would fare a little worse if he ended up in a situation where he had to work together with others .
"I have one question for you, Ves . " Laida blinked at him . "Why did you choose to stay in the Republic? With your opportunities, you could have made a name for yourself in the Coalition . "
Ves and Pierce both shrugged their heads .
"The Coalition isn't so easy to establish a foothold on . There's more money to be made there, but there's a lot more competition there as well . The best and brightest of the Komodo Star Sector all flock to Coalition space in order to take advantage of the higher spending power and more abundant resources . What they don't realize is that as outsiders, they are already on the back foot compared to the locals . "
"Oh . "
"I'm doing fairly well on my own here in the Republic . My company has grown fast and I've already published two original designs . I would have never been able to achieve this much if I tried to do business in the Coalition . "
The Bright Republic was also his home and the root of the Larkinsons . Ves felt at home here in a way the Coalition could never provide . Their cultures different too much for Ves to ever grow comfortable in that prosperous second-rate state .
Pierce knew a lot about this as well . "There are too many foreigners in Coalition space . The Carnegie Group is the most attractive destination for them as their institutions accept the most outsiders . What these foreign mech designers don't realize is that the Carnegie Group only picks out the best . The vast majority of foreigners aren't able to accomplish anything except to become saddled with mountains of debt . "
"What happens to those with debt?"
"They hire themselves off as slaves, basically . " Pierce answered grimly . "The Coalition doesn't call them that, though . They instead employ extremely restrictive hiring contracts that run for a period of fifty or even a hundred years, depending on which coalition partner you are dealing with . A mech manufacturer from the Konsu Clan can even get away with a contract that lasts for your entire lifetime . "
"Who would ever accept that kind of contract?!"
"A lot more mech designers than you think . You have to realize that it's extremely expensive for someone from a third-rate state to live in a second-rate state . The price of everything you buy is a hundred times more expensive . That goes for rent and tuition as well . "
In short, staying a single year in Coalition space cost as much as living a hundred years in an average third-rate state like the Bright Republic .
"Why don't they declare themselves bankrupt and start anew?"
Pierce shook his head . "The laws of the Friday Coalition only extends that right to its own citizens . Foreigners like you and Ves won't get away that easily . They'll put a metaphorical gun against your head and force you to sign a contract of indentured servitude . Don't think that you will end up designing mechs after signing such a contract . You'll mostly be used as human calculators that need to do jobs that require human judgement . "
"Therefore, the Friday Coalition isn't that good of place to go unless you are supremely confident in your talent . " Ves added after that . "And in most cases, they won't even consider employing a mech designer who graduated from an institution from a third-rate state . We're too low-class for them to take us seriously . "
Laida looked crestfallen at the news . Ves figured that she might have held some hopes for starting elsewhere, but the truth was often brutal .
Chapter end
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