Chapter 752. Flashligh (1/2)
While Ves had recently realized he no longer needed to march in lockstep with the MTA's principles, brainwashing an expert pilot carried same severity as outright murdering an expert pilot under his care!
In fact, if Ves completely gave in, then he would in effect be guilty of committing two capital crimes in the eyes of the mech industry!
Even getting caught by one of them was enough to ruin the career of the Skull Architect and exile him to the frontier!
Ever since the Farund Affair took place, the Mech Trade Association became extremely paranoid about tampered neural interfaces.
”I can see you are concerned at the possibility of getting caught.” Major Verle spoke out. ”Let me assure you that won't be the case. The only people who will be aware of what you have done are you and me. With your jamming device doing its magic, there is no chance anyone else is listening in. I can promise you that I will tell no one of this nor include it in my formal and informal reports. Neither Colonel Lowenfield, Professor Velten or some pencil pusher at the Mech Corps will ever learn of this plan.”
That did not reassure Ves enough. After all, even if Major Verle seemed to be the dependable sort, he was only human. Who knew if he changed his mind someday?
”How can I trust your word then, sir? I need more than just an empty reassurance. This matter is too serious for me to believe in your good intentions. Not when you are willing to plot against an expert pilot at the same time.”
Ves may have gone a little too far in his doubts, but he couldn't care less right now. If Major Verle expected him to roll over and commit a grievous crime that could lead the MTA to condemn him to death, then he better get a receive a good answer!”
The major sighed for the second time that Ves had ever seen him do it. ”Very well. Let me provide some additional reassurance to you. Let me begin by asking you a question. Do you think the Flagrant Vandals are normal?”
”No, sir.” Ves replied without hesitation. ”Frankly speaking, there are too many discrepancies between the Vandals and any other mech regiment of the Bright Republic. Even if that is by design as alluded to by the name of the Vandals, I have been harboring serious doubts about the purpose of the Vandals. Is it really just a place for the Mech Corps to dump their undesirables and unleash them onto missions of dubious legality?”
”You are on the right track. It's good that you have been aware enough to maintain a shred of skepticism. Yet you have fallen short of identifying the critical link that ties us all together. I don't blame you, Mr. Larkinson. We do our best to hide our other connections and make it seem we are truly abandoned by the Mech Corps.”
”Wait.. so all of those tales about lack of funding and being saddled with troublemakers is a lie, sir?”
”Not at all. That is all true both on the surface. We have truly been gotten by with trying to make soldiers out of dysfunctional men and women and to fund our operations by earning our income through our own efforts. Yet this is merely the smokescreen that hides our true nature. I am sure you have noticed that certain individuals among the Vandals, particularly the mech designers who are attached to our units, tend to get transferred out at some point. Now try and think what other service branch of the Bright Republic don't hesitate to recruit troublemakers for their unique talents and their unconventional thinking?”
What other branch of service was out there besides the Mech Corps? The various Auxiliary Corps? A mech designer or a mech pilot played no role among infantry or tank regiments…
A light shone in his mind as soon as he focused on the word unconventional. Rather than think of something like the Mech Corps or the Auxiliary Corps, he should rather be thinking about the intelligence services!
”You guys are fronts for spooks!”
”Crudely put, Mr. Larkinson, and not quite apt. We are not engaged in the act of spying. We are more like the people who are sent after a target after the spies have done their legwork. Call us unconventional problem solvers if you will, or operatives if you want to use the boring name.”
When Ves heard something like that, he recalled the image of Calabast again for some reason. Her role likely fit this job description to a tee.
He didn't know what he was supposed to feel after hearing this revelation. It explained much of the discrepancies about the Vandals, yet… what did that change, really? Soldiers or operatives, they still served the Bright Republic, at least in theory. This simple realization allowed Ves to accept this abrupt piece of news.
He could think about the greater implications later. Right now wasn't the time to commiserate about who he really served.
”Okay. I can accept that you are part of some intelligence service, sir. Which one exactly?”
One of the areas in which the Bright Republic excelled at compared to the Vesia Kingdom was its intelligence services. Each of them focused on different missions, but all of them had proven to be crucial in mitigating the Republic's military disadvantage against the larger and more numerous Vesian Mech Legion.
Major Verle retrieved a strange badge from a slot in his armor. He held it out to Ves, who looked at the extremely lively patterns. This was no mundane badge. The craftsmanship and exotics incorporated within turned this ornament into multifaceted work of art!
A small natural projection emerged from the badge. Ves knew the effect hadn't been generated by any electronics embedded into the object, but came from a precise arrangement of exotics.
The projection formed into fiery letters that laid to rest which intelligence service the Flagrant Vandals truly belonged to. Pretty much every adult Brighter heard of this name before, which was often associated with daring actions against the Vesians during the war!