Chapter 2559: Expert Candidate Survey (1/2)
The expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan all answered the summons with no hesitation.
No matter whether they were taking a nap or in the middle of practice, they all put down what they were doing and boarded a shuttle that brought them to the Scarlet Rose.
The mobile supply frigate didn't have enough space to accommodate so many shuttles arriving at once. Ves grimaced as he saw a small queue forming at the aft of his personal ship.
”I need a bigger boat.”
Ever since Ves hijacked the Scarlet Rose from the Coalition Reserve Corps, he fell in love with her advanced features and stellar performance. His prior ship was the Barracuda which was really just a toy for rich people.
Yet just a few years after acquiring her, Ves no longer felt impressed with his personal ship. The Larkinson Clan grew bigger and Ves grew busier. The scope of his work grew bigger and his demands on external facilities increased.
Even though mobile supply frigates were designed to address the needs of mech designers, the Scarlet Rose was no longer adequate for his purposes.
He looked forward to obtaining his factory ship. The humongous volume of this 2 kilometer long vessel possessed ample room so satisfy all of his needs in the next couple of decades.
Only a capital ship was able to keep up with his growth. His new factory ship would not only serve as the industrial heart of the Larkinson fleet, but also serve as his personal seat of power for the times to come.
Incidents such as the minor traffic jam forming in front of the cramped hangar bay of the Scarlet Rose would no longer take place.
A short time passed before the first invited expert candidate entered his stateroom.
Lucky, who had showed up again for some reason, raised his head in curiosity.
”Meow.”
Commander Casella Ingvar saluted Ves as soon as she stepped inside and approached his desk.
”You've summoned me, sir?”
”I did. Please take a seat.”
As Casella sat down, her pet flapped her wings and launched in the air.
”Chirp. Chirp.”
The goldfinch-like bird flew above Lucky in a teasing manner.
”Mirrie. Don't tease Lucky like that.”
”Chirp chirp!”
”Meow!”
Even though Mirrie was flying high in the air, Lucky used his flight abilities to soar straight upwards before capturing the poor bird!
”Chirp chirp chirp!”
Fortunately, Lucky was merely toying with Mirrie. He let her go as soon as he indulged in his victory. The bird was not resigned to this defeat and began to flap her wings even harder!
Ves and Casella ignored the sideshow.
”So, commander. I've heard you are adjusting well to your new position. How are the Sentinels?”
The Sentinel Commander nodded. ”They are getting better, sir. I've implemented some morale-boosting measures to drag them out of their slump. I'd like to thank you for allocating some of the new second-class mechs to us. A lot of Sentinel mech pilots have grown excited about piloting these machines. Our only regret is that we don't have enough of them to satisfy all of my men. For now, I've set up a rotating schedule to give every mech pilot an equal amount of time to practice with the new additions.”
”That sounds quite fair, but have you ever thought about setting up a reward scheme? By letting the best-performing Sentinels gain more access to the second-class mechs, you can motivate them into working harder.”
Casella faintly shook her head. ”Magdalena suggested that as well, but for every winner, there are at least ten losers. We need to foster cooperation, not competition.”
Though Ves didn't quite agree with that, he did not bother to argue with her. Perhaps her approach worked out better.
Ves began to ask more questions. Casella freely answered them with clear passion in her voice.
The more they talked, the more Ves recognized that Casella was in her element.
The Living Sentinels loved their new commander. As an expert candidate, Casella gained a lot of admiration from the start. This made everything easier for her. When she began to implement some reforms, hardly any of the Sentinels resisted her ideas.
Ves figured that without her identity as an expert candidate, Casella would have faced a lot more resistance from her own men. The Living Sentinels were in a pretty bad shape once the Nyxian Gap Campaign concluded.
It wasn't fair, but so was life. Casella did not reject the boons granted by her piloting accomplishments but leveraged them instead. Through her proactive leadership, the Sentinels were finally beginning to move forward again.
Through this little discussion, Ves gained a strong impression of Casella as an expert candidate.
It was clear that she wanted to dedicate herself towards leadership and responsibility.
In fact, Ves even saw the shadow of Colonel Ark Larkinson in the Sentinel Commander.
Casella was different from Commander Orfan and Commander Dise who were warriors first and officers second. The latter two were mainly passionate about their martial skills. While they did not reject the need to command their subordinates, they did not obsess over it as much as other people.
From what he could see, Casella was in her element when she was commanding. If Ves took this away from her, hardly anything would be left.
What was strange to Ves was that her active and developing spiritual potential was very unusual in nature.
It was difficult for him to describe her spiritual attributes. As best as he could tell, her attributes were dark, shadowy, silent, thoughtful, patient, calm and cold.
Yet while Casella embodied all of these traits, she did not seem to be too extreme.
Frankly speaking, Ves was confused. Both Casella and her brother possessed peculiar spiritual attributes that were actually opposite in nature. Their complex spiritual attributes originally compelled him to hire them, but now that he had them, he was a bit lost.