"About that..." Jake sounded like he swallowed a sour lemon. "I think it’s best to switch you over to lkor. He’s been coordinating the ch Nursery’s defenses."
Ves waited for the comm channel to switch to lkor.
"Ves? I’ve been aning to speak to you."
"I just heard the short version. Tell about the readiness of the rcenaries. Who did you hire and what kind of issues do they have?"
lkor sighed on the other side of the channel. "It’s complicated. First, do you know what rcenaries do during tis of war?"
"So of them join the ch Corps or get conscripted by them, right?"
"Yes, and it’s always the best of them that get snapped up one way or another. Usually, rcenaries prize their freedom and identity, so the ch Corps usually contracts them to defend less important places that still need to be protected. So right off the bat, the best rcenaries have disappeared."
"Leaving the hiring market with the non-elites and the small to dium-sized rcenary corps who aren’t worthy of notice." Ves added onto lkor’s explanation. He could predict where his cousin was going with this story from his own understanding of how the market worked. "Since this is a ti of war, plenty of companies are shivering in their pants. They can’t bolster their security forces fast enough, so they’ve imdiately hired the leftovers who are still worth a damn."
The latest war between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom already raged on for a couple of months. The most farsighted companies already made their moves long ago.
"When you tasked us so ti ago to hire so rcenaries as well, the outfits that were still available at that ti are like the last kids you’d pick to join your team. They all co with various amounts of baggage. The only good thing about them is that they know their records look bad, so they’ve all been setting reasonable prices."
"Did you hire a cheap group then?"
"Not exactly." lkor shook his head. "Those guys are liable to cut and run when the going gets tough. I’m not stupid enough to put my faith on those types. Besides, none of these cowards indicated that they wanted to take on an assignnt that would force them to fight directly against the Vesian frontline forces."
Ves snorted. "Good luck with that. I don’t think those rcenaries can afford to be picky. They’ll probably go bankrupt very soon."
"It’s better to be bankrupt than dead." lkor shrugged. "In any case, there aren’t that many rcenary corps who are willing to accept a high-risk defense assignnt, which is what’s applicable to our situation. I’ve had to spend days negotiating with various outfits available for hire."
"And the result?"
"Well, after discussing it with the LMC’s upper managent, we’ve settled on a dium-sized group called the Oodis Mudriders."
"Charming na." The na of the outfit alone did not inspire much confidence in Ves.
"The Mudriders specialize in extended patrols, wilderness reconnaissance and other missions of that nature. They’re really good at what they do, so I’ve decided to contract them even if they don’t specialize in defense."
His cousin must have a good reason to do so. "Then what’s the problem with the Mudriders?"
"There’s no way in putting it gently, so I’ll just say it. The Mudriders have a black mark on their record."
Ves instantly turned serious. "Really? And you hired them anyway?"
What was a black mark? In the rcenary circles, the rcenary Association kept track of each rcenary outfit’s performance and whether they fulfilled their obligations. They were much like the ch Trade Association in that regard, though they did not wield any real power or maintained their own defense force. In short, they acted solely as neutral arbiters.
In their record-keeping, they frequently had to deal with rcenaries that failed to do their jobs for so reason or another. The MA would often be called to investigate the circumstances if the rcenaries and their employers failed to co to an agreent. Either the rcenaries would be acquitted, or they’d receive a red or black mark on their records.
A red mark signified a warning sign. It ant that the rcenary corps in question had fudged their job sohow. These marks instantly lowered the valuation of the corps, but fortunately for them the MA offered plenty of options to redeem themselves, usually through demonstrating good behavior in the next handful of missions.
It was a different case with a black mark. The rcenary corps had to do a completely unforgivable act in order to acquire a black mark. This usually entailed actions short of becoming a full pirate, but still looked pretty bad. Most often, this consisted of destroying sothing that they’d been assigned to protect, fleeing too early in battle, or getting caught doing sothing wildly illegal.
Many rcenary corps gave up on the spot once they received a black mark Sadly, the ch pilots wouldn’t be able to get away with it either, as the black mark persisted in their personal records as well. Many pilots therefore chose to retire from the rcenary business entirely.
To those who for so reason or another desperately wanted to stay in the business, the MA offered a couple of ways out. The most popular one would be to redeem themselves through completing a number of missions with exemplary behavior.
Unlike with red marks though, the rcenaries wouldn’t be able to remove their black marks with a string of boring and safe guard or patrol duties in the middle of nowhere. They specifically had to demonstrate their valor through completing high-risk assignnts.
"This is the first high-risk assignnt for the Mudriders." lkor continued to explain. "They received their black marks at the outbreak of the war when they were contracted to defend a lucrative natural preserve planet. For so reason, they did not prepare for the war and got caught with their pants down when a deep-ranging raiding party entered the system. You can guess what happened next."
These Mudriders already sounded like idiots to Ves. Who didn’t know that a war was imminent back then? "Okay, so their peaceti contract obliged them to defend the operations on the natural preserve, but they never actually expected to face the fangs of the ch Legion. Did they run imdiately or did they at least pretend to put up a fight?"
"It’s actually both. They used to be a fairly large rcenary corps with over seventy chs. Half of them mutinied against the rcenary commander and fled the system just hours after the arrival of the Vesians. The other half beca so demoralized that even if the commander wanted to make a stand, the circumstances forced him to pull back as well, hence the black mark."
While Ves felt a lot of sympathy for the rcenary commander, that did not an he appreciated the commander’s leadership abilities. "Right, and now we’re the ones they’re tasked with defending. How many chs do they have?"
"There’s only twenty-four left. The good thing is that most of them are advanced chs. The Mudriders who piloted the frontline chs didn’t hold much loyalty to the corps and don’t possess strong wills. What’s left are the true core of the Mudriders."
Twenty-four chs, most of them on par with the chs of the Avatars of Myth. That sounded a bit better. This brought the defending chs to at least half the strength of what the Vesians might bring to bear.
It was still short of insuring victory, but Ves could not afford to be picky at the mont.
lkor proceeded to tell Ves a few other details about the Mudriders that he should know before suggesting that he should et with the rcenary commander in person.
"The Mudriders are based in the ch stables next to ours. You should really speak with the commander and try to convince him that the ch Nursery can hold as long as they are committed to the fight."
Ves nodded. He knew how important it was to prop up the rcenaries after suffering an enormous spout of bad luck. "I’ll go do that."
He cut the comm channel and proceeded to leave the underground portion of the ch Nursery with Lucky in tow.
As he briefly glanced at the various floor, he noticed that the manufacturing complex had gone into full crisis mode.
His people halted every non-essential operation such as fabricating chs and began to stow away every loose component and material laying around in the open.
Under the leadership of Chief Cyril, the ch technicians also started to tidy up the production lines and began to wrap them up with makeshift armor plating in order to protect them against collateral damage.
Out of everything in the ch Nursery, the LMC could not afford to lose its three production lines. As the most valuable physical assets of his company, the Vesian raiding force would definitely do their utmost to pound the expensive machines into scrap.
Once he reached the surface, he saw that most of the office buildings had actually been retracted underneath the ground. While that didn’t guarantee they would escape unscathed, it at least made them less of an obvious target.
As for the ch stables, for various reasons these structures couldn’t be moved, but their sturdy construction could take a fair amount of blows before the succumbed. Ves and Lucky moved to the largest structure which had been assigned to the Oodis Mudriders.
Upon reaching the entrance, the Mudriders must have gotten prior word of his arrival because their ch pilots and support personnel all stood at attention in front.
Ves got the sense that a fair amount of pilots used to serve in the ch Corps. It stood to reason that they stuck to the Mudriders when everyone else left the group.
An older man stood in front and approached Ves. "Welco to the Oodis Mudriders. I am Commander rin Husaan, the man in charge of these bunch. Isn’t that right?!"
The Mudriders shouted in unison. The discipline of those who remained still appeared to be strong. The display quietly allayed so of the concerns that Ves still held. At least the Mudriders hadn’t been left with the dregs.
Once Commander Husaan dismissed his n and won, he led Ves to an office that he appropriated for his use. "I appreciate you coming to pay us a visit. You don’t seem like the corporate types who let their underlings do all of the work."
How was Ves supposed to respond to such a remark? "Your Mudriders form a vital part of our defense, so I can’t afford to to remain hands off. Now, I’m aware of your outfit’s recent history. It doesn’t look good."
Husaan let out a deprecating smile. "It is not a secret that my Mudriders are much-diminished. In truth, we’ve had it too easy in the last decade. We’ve expanded too fast and brought in strangers to fight alongside us. We trusted them to watch our hides, but at the critical mont, they turned their own backs to us and left."
"Can you guarantee that it won’t happen again? We truly need your commitnt to this coming fight."
"I will stake my rcenary honor on this task. I would rather die than to see the rcenary corps that I’ve built out of my own flesh and tears dissolve due to another act of dishonor!"
That sounded great, but Commander Husaan did not speak for his entire crew. Even though his n showed an encouraging display of unity, who knew if any of them held second thoughts? Once a single ch pilot ran away, his departure might lead to a cascade of defections, especially in the heat of battle.
Ves crossed his arms. "Actions speak louder than words. I’ll reserve my judgent until the Vesians actually co."
"That’s fair." Husaan nodded. "All I can tell you is that we’ll do our best to defend these premises, but if you want to employ us at our best, then you must grant us the autonomy to operate according to our strengths."
"What does that an?"
"I’ve been arguing with the man you’ve assigned to coordinate your defenses, and we have a disagreent on how my Mudriders should be employed."
"And you haven’t resolved your argunt?"
"No." The robust rcenary commander shook his head. "We’re trained to fight on the run. We are a skirmishing force, not a frontline unit. Standing behind the walls and letting the enemy co to us isn’t what we do."
It turned out that Commander Husaan wanted the Mudriders to be deployed outside the ch Nursery. Instead of defending the walls, the Mudriders would harass the incoming raiding force from the flanks and force them to split up their focus.
The idea sounded good, but the problem was that nothing held the Mudriders back from running away if they chose to do so.
Ves understood why lkor was hesitant in granting them so much leeway. They already possessed one black mark in their record.
"Let speak to my cousin about it before I make a decision."
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