As Xiao pondered on the question, Vesna entered the room and grabbed her hand.
“Let’s go! We just booked a match and you need to prepare for it! It’s happening in two days.”
“A match?”
The young woman was flabbergasted by the fact that Zavaso was willing to book a match with so little time to prepare. Generally, mech organizations needed at least a month to prepare for matches. Preparations often included, but not limited to, planning and implementing mech loadout, researching opponent mechs and past matches, and figuring out the logistics to get the mech to the match site. To make matters worse, she had yet to meet the other members in the organization and knew nothing about her actual roles in the mech organization.
“You’ll be meeting everyone else! You’ll enjoy working with them!”
I hope she cannot actually read minds. That would be creepy!
A minute later, the two of them returned to the mechbay. This time, Xiao was led deeper until she arrived outside a meeting room where six people were already sitting around the large desk.
“I’m proud to introduce the newest member to our team!” Vesna grabbed Xiao’s hand and presented her before the group. “This is Xiao! She will be our pilot for the next match!”
Pilot for the next match? But I applied for a mech pilot apprentice position.
The young woman knew her limits. She could get through simulations but an actual match was a whole different beast. Mech loadouts alone added unpredictability that could decide a match before it started. Unlike AIs, actual pilots had strategy and could adapt to different cases. Faced with all that uncertainty, Xiao wasn’t even sure she was ready.
“Don’t worry, Xiao.” Vesna helped the young woman to a chair. “Treat the next match as a good learning experience! We’re all here to learn.”
At this point, Xiao wondered if Vesna knew how expensive mechs were. The cost of the maintenance already surpassed what most people earned in a month. Including the weapons, ammunition and equipment, one lesson would be beyond what most could make in a lifetime. While actual experience would benefit them, she wasn’t sure if Zavaso could handle such a price tag.
“Hi Xiao,” said the male teenager who Xiao only had a quick glimpse earlier at the reception. “My name is Orlan. I’m the accountant of Zavaso and I can reassure you that we are doing very well with our finances.”
Orlan wore a white dress shirt and dark dress pants. His clean cut black hair was complimented with a pair of blue glasses. Xiao studied the skinny arms and concluded that Orlan probably never worked out in his life. His reassurance did ease her worries a bit, though she still felt the pressure of performing well with an expensive mech.
“Look at the rest of you! Talking about business already! Where’s the ‘Welcome to Zavaso! I hope you enjoy working here?’ that she deserves?”
The man who spoke out had a short stature, was bald and possessed thick facial hair. The man resembled the dwarves mentioned in fantasy stories. The man’s thick muscles and many calluses on his fingers reminded Xiao of a senior mechanic she knew from her old job. With a big smile, he walked over to the young woman.
“I’m Wattan! I’m the head mechanic here! Looking forward to working with you!”
Xiao was expecting a handshake but she instead got a big hug from the man. As she returned the embrace, she smiled at the thought of Wattan doing his best not crushing her. Once they were done with the hug, Wattan introduced his two assistant mechanics to Xiao. The first assistant was called Ahote and he looked almost like the young brother of Wattan. The second assistant, named Tuari, was the opposite of Wattan. The man was tall and wiry. He had the most hair out of the three and had a very shy composure. Despite the first impression he gave off, Tuari had calluses on his fingers too, giving Xiao confidence in his ability to work in the mechbay.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“We should get started with the meeting! Time is money, everyone!”
The person with long blonde hair was the one speaking out. What caught Xiao’s eyes were the expensive suit and brand name watch. She couldn’t tell if the man worked for Zavaso or if this was merely a sponsor for the mech organization who happened to be joining the meeting.
If the latter, then it makes sense how they could get the funding to treat matches as learning experiences.
The young woman was growing more and more curious about the formation of Zavaso. A new mech organization normally needed to make a bit of a name for itself before it could attract sponsors. After her match, she intended on figuring out who or what was backing the mech organization. She had heard enough horror stories of mech pilot apprentices joining mech organizations backed by crime syndicates that she didn’t want to join the other poor souls.
“Ingar, we’ll start soon.” The sixth person stood up and bowed to Xiao. “I apologize for him! He’s the marketer of Zavaso so he handles a lot of funds. As for me, I’m Twan, the purchaser and designer within Zavaso.”
Is Ingar the marketer only? And Twan is both the purchaser and designer?
While she didn’t know the exact value, Xiao was pretty certain that Ingar’s suit and watch were luxury items for the rich only. However, Twan was a bigger mystery for her. Both the purchaser and designer positions were demanding jobs. Purchasers were responsible for filling inventory with all the needed subcomponents to ensure smooth operation within the mechbay. They had to regularly negotiate prices, vet new vendors and, at times, purchase rare subcomponents through any method possible.
A purchaser is already a full-time role. How does he find time to be a designer too?
Designers were known to be experts of how mechs were built. They were not only responsible for making templates of mech loadouts but, if needed, they had to change the design to suit the situation. Given the importance of both roles, Xiao couldn’t figure out how a person would have time for both unless that said person was a genius. She didn’t have a chance to inquire on the matter as, once she sat down, the meeting commenced with Vesna taking charge.
“We have a match taking place in two days! I know it’s not much time to prepare but the boss wants us to gain experience as soon as we have a complete team. Here is what we know about the match. Ask questions once you read through all of it!”
The screen behind the little girl turned on, revealing the summary of the match.
<
Match Type: Casual
Mech Weight Class Allowed: Light Mechs only
Format: 2 versus 2
Arena: Casual Standard
Win Condition: All opposing mechs can no longer continue combat
Attendance: 5000
Salvage Reward: 4
>
This is a fairly standard match. The salvage reward is double the normal amount so I can see how it can be alluring.
Salvage could make or break a mech organization. Instead of paying in credits, matches paid out in salvage rights. Each match provided a pool which the victor could select salvage from. Because the pool was random, the rewards could vary greatly from one match to the next. In most cases, the salvage could help the mech organization break even after a match or, if lady fortune smiled upon the organization, acquire a rare subcomponent that could turn the tide of future matches. The salvage reward grew as one went to larger mech weights so, for light mechs, two salvage rights were pretty significant.
“No questions?” asked Vesna after a lengthy silence. “Good! We can conclude this meeting then. I still need to speak with Isaac about the logistics. Can't participate if the mech is left behind.”
As soon as the meeting concluded, Vesna left the room in a hurry. Xiao wanted to intercept the little girl but Wattan approached her instead.
“Missus, I was wondering if we can discuss the loadout of your mech! Two days isn’t a lot of time to work with but we can at least pick the template you want for the upcoming battle.”
With a nod of her head, Xiao followed the head mechanic with the other two mechanics in tow. She realized that preparing for the next match was the main priority. This would be her very first match with an actual mech. She wanted to at least achieve a passing grade by not completely making a fool of herself. As they made their way to the mech, she asked Wattan if they knew anything about their ally or their opponents.
“With so few days for preparation, I doubt we know anything beyond the match summary.” The head mechanic turned on the lights that illuminated the ant mech. “Let’s just focus on what we have control over.”