Chapter 2538: Conflict of Interest

To be honest, Ves had no idea how he should go about designing a mech that restrained expert mechs.

He only dared to come up with a mech that restrained expert mechs. Countering them was out of the question. It was too unrealistic to design a mech that could actually threaten these powerful killing machines. Just hindering them was already worthwhile enough for the Hex Army.

In fact, a mech that was powerful enough to act against an expert mech would definitely have a much greater effect against weaker machines! This meant that even if this design project failed in fulfilling its primary goal, it could still meet its secondary goal.

Ves held the attitude of trying it out. Succeed or fail, he would at least learn some valuable lessons. Since he intended to add some expert mechs to the clan as well, he needed to know how they coped with various situations. They were powerful, but not invincible!

"We have introduced four out of six design projects so far." He addressed the crowd of assistants. "Juliet and I will supervise two projects each, so that leaves two more. Gloriana, would you like to introduce them to our design teams?"

She glowered at him. Just because she maintained her composure throughout the session didn't mean she was happy with how Ves handled the situation!

Unfortunately, this trend could not be stopped. Ves had gone through with his intentions, signalling that he was not abiding by her stance.

It was unseemly for her to express her dissatisfaction to Ves. She had an image to uphold and she could not air her dirty laundry in public. How could she possibly face the mech designers who looked up to her after showing her ugly side?

Besides, even if she argued with Ves, she knew in her heart that he would not budge on the matter. He was too materialistic for his own good. The moment he realized the Larkinson Clan possessed a third Journeyman was the moment he was determined to expand the Design Department!

Given this unpalatable situation, Gloriana had to make a difficult decision. Every viable choice was a bad one. She could choose between the least-bad solution or the most catastrophic solution.

She still possessed enough logic and good sense to choose the lesser of two evils.

She stood up and took a few steps forward. She composed her face and pressed down her anger and resentment as much as possible.

"I will be in charge of leading two Hexer mech design projects. The first one is centered around the concept of a light communications mech. Through taking advantage of some of the unique properties of my husband's glows, we believe it is possible to design a mech that can transmit and receive data without becoming affected by conventional ECM and jamming."

Several mech designers looked up when they heard this. These individuals were aware of how much such a mech could affect the course of major battles.

One of the most troublesome aspects about planetary campaigns was the sheer amount of jamming and interference set up by both sides!

While it was possible to maintain short to medium-ranged communications depending on the proximity to the enemy, it was difficult to keep in touch with units at the frontlines!

This meant that requests for reinforcements, warning messages of enemy reinforcements, footage recorded by scouts and other forms of crucial data weren't able to reach their intended destination!

Out of all of the assistants, Moltar Ringer and Mayer Torto possessed the greatest interest in this design project!

Mayer Torto was one of the youngest and most junior mech designers among the assistants, but he had made great strides towards expanding his expertise in communications, command and control systems.

If he was able to participate in a design project that made use of a communication system based around entirely different principles, he might be able to make a considerable harvest!

In contrast to Mayer, Moltar was interested in the opposite. His specialty lay in signal disruption. In his opinion, no foolproof communication system existed. As long as one mech transmitted a signal to another mech, there should be a way to disrupt this exchange!

He wanted to take part in the design of this Hexer communication mech as well. He wanted to understand what made it tick and how to break it. While that sounded rather counter-productive, it was actually very valuable to LMC to learn what could interfere with the transmissions of this unusual Hexer mech.

What they didn't know was that Ves did not think highly of their chances. If the unique communication system of the Hexer mech was based around spirituality, then how could a pair of spiritually-dull Apprentices be able to perceive what was happening?

"This is not the most exciting mech design." Gloriana warned everyone. "As an auxiliary mech, it is not necessary to add additional functions to this mech. It merely needs enough mobility and survivability to last on the battlefield."

While auxiliary mechs sounded rather boring, they were still vital to many larger mech units. Trying to command and coordinate several different mech companies over wider areas was quite challenging. Any decent opponent would try its best to set up a lot of interference.

The consequences of neglecting this vital step were very dire!

Perhaps a group of mechs might get surrounded by enemies from all sides.

Perhaps some scout mechs on the ground were accurately able to transmit coordinates to mechs in orbit which were able to launch precise orbit-to-surface attacks.

Whatever the case, stopping the enemy from communicating with other elements was very much worth it, even if it hindered friendly communication attempts!

As Ves played a very vital role in the design of this mech, he had to say something as well.

"The core communication principles behind this Hexer auxiliary mech will largely be based around my design philosophy. This is an experiment to see whether it is possible to establish a communication system that is not counterable by ordinary technological means. If this design succeeds, we may start a follow-up design project to design a Larkinson-exclusive scout mech that takes advantage of the same system."

This was a good attempt to pioneer a new application of his design philosophy. If the concept delivered on its promises, Ves would be able to refine it until it turned into a second-generation implementation. Through all of this maturing, the scout mech exclusive to the Larkinson Clan should be able to perform even better in this regard!

Once he had his say, Gloriana turned to the second mech design project she intended to lead.

Ves had briefly spoken to Gloriana about this before. He gave most of the decision-making power concerning this last project to her. It was his way of soothing her anger. He hoped that by being able to dictate the overall form of the sixth design project, she would no longer be preoccupied with driving Juliet out of the Design Department.

"The sixth mech design project that we will be working on is another Hexer mech design." Gloriana announced. "Unfortunately, I don't have much time to specify what exactly it should be. For now, I have some ideas which I will share in private with the design teams assigned to this project. The Komodo War is continuing to tilt in the favor of the Friday Coalition. While we aren't the only ones who seek to turn this situation around, I believe we can play a vital role in helping the Hex Army regain the initiative."

Everyone carefully composed their expressions as they listened to Gloriana.

To Ves, their actual feelings were poorly hidden. Hardly any of his assistant mech designers harbored any sympathy for the Hexers. In fact, some of them were probably looking forward to seeing the Hegemony collapse!

It was not easy to figure out why this was so. Many of the new hires came from states aligned with the Hegemony. This included people like Catherine Evenson who still had a lot of relatives in the Sentinel Kingdom.

If the Hexadric Hegemony vanquished the Friday Coalition, the Hexer culture would probably spread throughout the rest of the star sector!

In contrast, if the Fridaymen defeated the Hexers, the Sentinel Kingdom would probably continue to be business as usual.

This was because the Coalition didn't possess an abnormal culture!

Sure, every Coalition partner developed some quirks. The Carnegie Group was filled with merchants, the Gauge Dynasty was too full of itself, the Konsu Clan obsessed too much over hierarchy and so on. Yet compared to the galactic standard, they were pretty much within the range of normality.

Ves suddenly realized that this might become a serious problem. Even though people such as Catherine Evenson pledged to sever all of their former ties, it was hard to get rid of their sympathy and sense of belonging to their former states or the people they grew up with. Why should people like her contribute to a mech design that might very well plunge her former family and friends into a society where people like Gloriana were considered normal?

This was a massive conflict of interest!

The worst part about it was that Ves had no easy way to solve this problem. He understood people's reluctance to contribute to a potential Hexer victory. Yet for the sake of his mother and his wife, Ves had to ensure that his clan assisted the Hexers as much as possible.

He paced around the lab. "Before we go any further, let me just say something else. Each of you are Larkinsons. Each of you have pledged an oath to put the interests of the clan above the interests of any third-parties. While I don't expect you to disregard your own interests, it is best if you remember your current allegiance."

He pointed at Catherine and some other assistants. "Each of you come from the Sentinel Kingdom, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Will you assist in the design of our Hexer mechs knowing that your efforts will help the Hegemony defeat the Coalition?"

The mood in the design lab changed yet again. Both Gloriana and Juliet became more attentive as they figured out what Ves might be doing.

"We.. will perform our jobs as long as it furthers the interests of the clan." Catherina glibly answered.

As a former aristocrat, she understood she needed to express a firm stance. The sooner, the better!

The other Sentinel assistants followed suit. Once Felicia Slenn affirmed her duty as well, Ves began to grin.

"I am glad you know what you are supposed to do, but knowing is not enough. You must stick to your words and act according to our expectations. If you ever feel troubled by what you are doing, you are welcome to visit me in private. This is the only time that I will show sympathy to any moral dilemmas or conflicts of interests you might harbor."

His grin grew cruel. "However, if you keep your feelings to yourself, then you must bear the consequences of doing so. If any of us ever find out that you are hindering our design projects, we will treat you according to the rules and regulations of the LMC and the Larkinson Clan. If you haven't read them already, then I suggest you skim over them. If you ever run afoul of them, don't say I didn't warn you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

No one dared to stick their necks out. They weren't stupid. Even though Ves knew that plenty of former citizens of the Komodo Star Sector still harbored very mixed feelings about assisting a Hexer mech design project, he did not need their approval. He merely requested their compliance.

This was how reality worked. Employees rarely got to choose how they worked. Situations might arise where they would be working on behalf of those they feared or detested.

So what?

All of his assistants worked for him now! Ves had the final say here, and his interests trumped over theirs!

If these mech designers wanted to choose their own design projects, then they should have started or continued to run their own mech company rather than joining his clan. Once they became a Larkinson, they lost the right to speak on these matters!