personal 2

In the talks with VMI, I had insisted on security measures and at first VMI people had grumbled that me and my team were paranoids because of the, in their words, excessive backup and security measures I had managed to implement them via the admin board where I had my seat. And those saying that were Taurians.

But, after a very strange fire in the research area, that consumed several of the new prototypes, they changed their minds. Because of my 'paranoid' measures, almost no data was lost and the research were almost not delayed.

For me, it was a signal that Comstar was starting to 'look' at (or should I say interfere with?) my actions. Not good at all as I expected to have more time before getting their attention.

With the added work hours needed to manage all the projects and with the need to deal with the VMI people I got little time to train (or some would say play) with my new 'Mech. It was a pity as it was a real pleasure to run it on the range field and it was very different from my old but still operational Eisenfaust, that right now was for a new 'MechWarrior. The SLDF Royals were indeed equipped with the best toys; everything was so much better than the normal models. I even got an advanced neurohelmet and a cooling suit both of Royal grade. The difference with the equipment that I had used before was brutal. Lighter, more comfortable and working much better, it was on par with the Royal monster I now had. The comms and sensor suit alone put it in a very different class, I could easily manage with it a complete battalion, provided I had the capability for it. After all, this 'Mech was the big brother of the Marauder and especially designed to be used by unit commanders. The weapons were in a different league too: this 'Mech was a supreme sniper, with at the same time plenty of ammo for the pair of Gauss Rifles and an ERPPC to add more fun to the party. At this time, my 'Mech was the only Royal design that stayed home as all the others departed with Vasseur for the long raid. V4RU had been busy repairing all the hardware damaged on Atru and by the time of the departure of the Revenants, almost all of it was operational again, even if most of the repaired designed were staying on New Vandenberg for the different defensive contracts they had.

One side effect of entering the board of VMI (that was a much bigger company than V4RU) was that I was now a public figure, invited to several social events, including and some I couldn't refuse. Most of the times, it was a total waste of my time but some of these events provided me with useful contacts. This made me glad that I had taken etiquette and protocol lessons.

Creating new lines in VMI as at same time easier and more difficult than I had thought. Easier because the requirements for civilian models were much lower and easier to satisfy than those for military ones. And more difficult because creating several new production lines was still a very complex operation and because some parts were still difficult to get. What I had in mind was automated control units, high precision machinery that were needed to produce 'Mechs of decent quality and in meaningfully numbers. Luckily, the advanced machinery at V4RU was up to the task most of the times, even if some components were too big or if we didn't have the necessary blueprints, forcing us to get the needed data from other companies.

By early 3020 the first commercial line started operating, producing an variant of the Buster, with enough improvements to compete with the Powerman being sold inside the Concordat with the added advantage that being produced locally meant less taxes and transport fees and therefore a lower price. Two months later, our variant of the Jabberwocky also entered production followed by other models in the following months. Like I had hoped, they were very successful, the only limitation being our production capabilities. This success secured my position on the board of directors of VMI, providing the company (and me) with a new and stable influx of money.

Because I was a bit paranoid about Comstar, one of the first jobs of the team that operated the ex-Argo machinery was to try to reproduce it. But unfortunately, while several parts were no problem, the core of the equipment was impossible to reproduce. Way beyond what my tech could defeat or understand. Pity.