They entered the end sprint.
Ves personally accompanied the modified prototype to the newly erected testing grounds a fair distance away from the ch Nursery. He witnessed each test in person and made his own observations about the prototype’s performance.
From what he saw so far, his rifleman ch design perford up to expectations. It weaved nimbly around the obstacle, showing hardly any signs of slowing down. As a fast and nimble dium ch, the prototype demonstrated both speed and resilience.
Even the people who supervised the tests couldn’t help but let out admiring gasps when the prototype finally revealed the power of the chest crystal.
After being hit by a number of laser beams, the crystal started twinkling in white. After the test pilot sent out a command, the chest crystal unleashed a powerful but controlled beam of light with almost the sa properties of a conventional crystal, but with a lot more oomph behind its power.
"The beam is at least twice as powerful as a standard laser cannon!"
That wouldn’t change any paradigms anyti soon, but it sounded impressive nonetheless. The capability to unleash a laser beam twice as powerful as a cannon should co as a nasty surprise to the rifleman ch’s opponents.
It was too bad that the crystal couldn’t be charged in any other way than firing lasers at it, not if you wanted to be safe. The crystal also didn’t hold its charge for very long and fizzled out rather quickly, throwing up a lot of excess heat into the vicinity as a result.
"It’s still a gimmick." Carlos noted at the side while Ves engrossed himself in studying the data readouts. "I really don’t see this feature being very useful. Sure, it’s impressive for a ch of that size to be able to unleash a powerful beam, but it won’t have many opportunities to show off that feature. It can only be charged if it’s shot at. Even if it carries a decent amount of armor, I don’t see any ch pilot volunteering to go out in a laser storm."
Ves grunted. "You’re right, but the crystal can be charged in other ways as well. It doesn’t discriminate between sides, so there’s no problem with asking other chs to shoot at its chest crystal."
"As if anything like that will happen. It’s more efficient if those laser rifleman chs don’t waste their battery packs on tricks like that."
Ves did not believe it was as straightforward as Carlos made it out to be. He could figure out several potential advantages to pre-charging the central crystal. He did not worry about the center crystal lacking any applications.
Although the crystal technology still hid a lot of secrets, Ves was pleased by the value it added to his design. Perhaps in the future he’d be able to bring out its full strength.
The testing grounds continued to grind away at the prototype. Ves gathered a lot of data on the soundness of its construction and the performance of each of its components. He paid a lot of attention to the targeting system, which turned out to be snappy and responsive, though it wasn’t very accurate at longer ranges.
The further away his ch was from its target, the more effort it had to expend to break past the enemy ch’s ECM. Against skirmishers which specialized in taking out ranged chs, this effect could beco very pronounced.
A skilled enough pilot stopped relying on external aids anyway. AIs and processors always glitched out and failed at the worst possible monts. ch pilots had been taught to rely on their own skills instead of the comforts provided their chs.
A ch pilot was there to pilot his ch, not the other way around.
From the fifth day onwards, the testing grounds started to subject the prototype to more demanding tests. This mostly involved subjecting it to extre conditions. They had to find out if the design delivered all of its promises in terms of survivability.
It was at this ti when a very important piece of news spread throughout the Republic. The ch Corps sent out a formal ssage to millions of ch designers.
Within the LMC, only Carlos received a notification from the ch Corps. It arrived in his comm with a special sound that his comm normally never released.
Both Ves and Carlos looked at each other with dismay.
"I knew this would happen." Carlos sighed and raised his comm to read the ssage. "I’ve been drafted."
Both of them saw it coming, though Ves always hoped that the ch Corps would sohow overlook his friend. After all, despite graduating as a ch designer, he never did anything of the sort. He had no designs to his na. He didn’t even publish a single virtual ch.
"When do you have to leave?"
"They already booked passage for . I’m to board the next convoy from Cloudy Curtain to Bentheim. That’s in two days."
"That’s not a lot of ti."
"The ch Corps doesn’t wait for anyone."
Now that the first wave of ch designers got called up, the war would probably enter a heated state very soon. The cautious probes and occasional raids that characterized the majority of the battles between the two sides would make way for harrowing battles in space and on the ground.
Ves accompanied Carlos they went through the paperwork. This ensured that Carlos would seamlessly be able to return to the LMC after his service ended.
"How long do you think the war will drag on?" Carlos asked as they ate a al in one of the ch Nursery’s restaurants.
"If it’s the sa as the last ones, then it’s going to last for four to six years."
That ant that Carlos might end up a very different man after the ch Corps released him. The thought of what low-ranking ch designers had to go through during the war freaked him out.
"Hey!" Ves reached out and grasped his friend’s shaking hand. "Working near or at the frontlines can be bad, but it’s also a fantastic learning opportunity! As long as you listen to the chief technicians in charge, you won’t get lost, I promise you."
"Wise words from soone who had seen it all?"
"You can say that."
What he experienced on Groening IV and the Glowing Planet changed his life and built his character. Ves might have encountered a number of close shaves, but he also ca out stronger after he conquered every challenge in his way.
Over the course of their dinner, Ves proceeded to tutor Carlos on how to survive his coming tour of service. He enthralled his friend with tales and cautioned him to always watch his back.
"A crisis can happen at any mont. No one will watch out for you when all hell breaks loose. The only person who cares about your safety is yourself and no one else."
Carlos frowned. "Geez. That sounds really pessimistic. Is it really that bad?"
"It depends on where you end up, but even if you are assigned to the rearguard, you shouldn’t relax too much."
"With my background, I don’t have any chance of landing a plushy posting." Carlos said with a rueful smile. "It’s straight to the frontlines for ."
Even Ves didn’t hold out hope for Carlos to be sent sowhere far away. The ch Corps was not a completely incorruptible institution. Ves grew up long enough among the Larkinsons to hear about how they really worked. When he studied ch design at Rittersberg, he heard other stories that confird all those tales.
The truth was that low-ranking ch designers with backing and connections always seed to end up in the rear. As for ch designers who enjoyed nothing of the sorts, they sohow never ended up more than a stone’s throw away from all of the action.
The only thing that Carlos had going for was that he worked for Ves, who in turn enjoyed a modest amount of backing from a Master ch Designer.
Still, the connection between Carlos and Master Olson was nonexistent. No one believed that Carlos enjoyed any protection from soone who held an important status in the Friday Coalition. At best, Carlos was an extension of the LMC and Ves.
Despite his great strides in recent tis, Ves knew that his prestige hadn’t reach the level where people could recognize him on the streets or where the ch Corps took special care of him. Carlos had to fend for himself at the frontlines.
"I don’t bla you, Ves. I’m much better off than when I previously worked a dead-end job in quality control. My design skills have improved a lot, and I’ll be able to offer a lot of help to a crew of ch technicians."
Ves nodded reassuringly. "I’ve kept an eye on your progress. At your level, you should be capable of modifying chs."
ch technicians couldn’t make any significant modifications to existing chs without locking them up. Most of the ti, they overlooked sothing critical that led to the ergence of fatal flaws or compatibility issues. Only soone with a ch design background could safely perform major modifications such as adding extra armor to a ch.
"That sounds like a good idea. I can stand out in this way."
"Don’t forget to check in with the chief technician before you do anything drastic. Just because a ch technician tells you sothing is okay doesn’t an he knows what he’s talking about."
"You’re always telling to establish a rapport with the chief technician. Why is he so important? Shouldn’t I be buttering up my superiors?"
"Who’s going to be your superior? Most of the tis, it’s another ch designer! It would be great if your boss wants to be chummy with all of his subordinates, but from what I’ve heard, that never happens. Don’t forget that you’re competitors as well!"
Carlos started to get it. "If I perform better than my boss, he’ll probably try to squash down, is that right?"
"That’s what all the Larkinsons told back when I was young. The ch pilots seem to view conflicts between ch designer as an amusing distraction. It might be funny to them, but it’s awful if that happens to you."
"What can I do then? Will I have to keep my head down forever? How will I be able to get a promotion out of the frontlines then?"
"That’s where the chief technician cos into play. You see, all those ch designers sent to the bases are there to help with the repair and maintenance of all of the chs of the Republic. You and all the other ch designers are the guests there. The true person is charge will always be the chief technicians on the base."
Ves made a lot of sense. Carlos nodded like an eager chick as Ves continued his explanation.
"Nothing happens in the ch stables and the workshops without the approval of the chiefs. All of them are career servicen without exception and have the power to ruin the lives of any ch designer that doesn’t play by the rules. They hold all the actual power there."
"I see! So even if they aren’t all that high up on the totem pole, they’re still more important than the base commander, is that right?"
"For you, yes. Base commanders don’t have any reason to pay attention to you. Chief technicians do. They treat their chs like their own children and hope that ch designers like you do so as well. In order to earn their acknowledgent, you have to demonstrate that you care."
"Isn’t that a given? I’m a citizen of the Republic, of course I care!"
"Platitudes aren’t enough. My uncle and aunts told that chief technicians often blow up in front of ch designers who still can’t get over the fact that the ch Designers took them away from their comfy workshops and plopped them in the middle of a war zone. Even if you want to get out, don’t do it in a way that disrespects he people who fight the good fight."
Ves graced Carlos with many other tips like that. Unlike sohow who had no clue what the ch Corps wanted with all of these low-ranking ch designers, Ves heard a lot from his uncles and aunts who participated in the last war.
Both sides often targeted each other’s ch technicians. As the war dragged on, the Republic and the Kingdom might experience a shortage in technical personnel. For that reason, the Republic didn’t hesitate to rope in all of the marginal ch designers who barely eked out a career in the private sector.
"ch designers like you are spares in their eyes."
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