Out of several possibilities his competitor could choose to go with, Dumont chose to go with the classic design duel. When two mech designers had a beef, they let the strengths of their mechs do the talking.
In truth, Ves had brainstormed several ways that Dumont could retaliate against him with his team. They came up with possibilities, such as price dumping, regulatory harassment, industrial sabotage and more.
A design duel had been well within specifications. The only snag was that Dumont conditioned his challenge by setting forth his first production model. Considering the brisk sales of his Havalax design, his first mech already accumulated an enormous amount of value.
More than risking a huge chunk of potential cash, the duel also put their reputation at stake. Nobody among the crowd could say whether one design was superior over the other. Both the Havalax and the Blackbeak designs had their own merits. Some would argue that they didnāt even compete in the same space.
Yet the prospect of a rivalry at play triumphed over logic. A few bystanders already started to egg Ves on. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The pressure mounted on Ves to accept the duel.
"I already reserved an arena, so you donāt have to go to the trouble of arranging a venue." Dumont added. "Five days from now, thereās an open time slot in the match between the Dorum Velvet Fists and the Haston Grease Monkeys. Weāll get to prove the worth of our designs in front of a full crowd of mech fans!"
It must have cost him quite a bit of money to arrange such a highly-valued slot. Ves mulled over the offer for any traps. The mech arena shouldnāt be able to get away with any tricks, but who could tell if they did?
"Iāll only accept if thereās official MTA representation."
Dumont waved his hand dismissively. "Fine!"
Requesting the presence of an agent of the MTA didnāt come cheap, but it insured that nothing funny went on. If Dumont or the arena operators tried to cheat in any way, then the MTA would come down hard on their heads.
As the challenger, Dumont was obliged to pay for it all, which saved Ves a lot of trouble since his companyās liquidity didnāt look all that great. Ves also had the privilege of setting some additional conditions such as the duel environment and the pilot criteria.
Ves chose to go with the most advantageous circumstances for himself. "I want the dueling ground to consist of rocky terrain with plenty of line-of-sight breaks."
His Blackbeak excelled in dragging out the fight while the Havalax sought to end the duel as quickly as possible. By making the terrain as difficult as possible, the pilot of the Blackbeak would be able to extend the pursuit.
"Fine, but donāt think you can run away all match. I donāt think the public will appreciate a mech that can only stand a chance by acting like a coward!"
"As for who will drive our mechs, letās set the bar to advanced pilots no older than thirty years old."
"Agreed."
Advanced pilots could be found everywhere. If Ves didnāt set such a condition, Dumont might have been able to persuade a rare expert pilot to fight in his stead. He set a relatively low age limit in order to prevent him from finding some grizzled war veteran who could pull of dozens of tricks in quick succession.
By posing all these limits, Ves made the duel more dependent on the machine rather than the person. He had faith in the quality of his Blackbeak and strongly believed in its performance despite the naysayers.
They hashed a few conditions before Dumont left in a confident whirl. He already accomplished his purpose, so there was no need to stick around anymore.
The impending design duel spoiled the rest of the press conference. Ves noticed that most of the reporters briefly notified their editors about the sudden challenge. The spell of had been broken, and nothing could pull them back into his trap.
Ves decided to wrap up his press conference.
"Thank you for attending, and I will see you five days from now at the arena!"
Word spread quickly. The duel between two young promising Apprentice Mech Designers should be one of the more exciting events that took place next week.
The constant hype surrounding their rivalry didnāt peak the interest of every mech fanatic, but it definitely raised their profiles. Both the Havalax and the Blackbeak received a surge of free publicity.
Many publications that had snubbed the invitation to attend the Blackbeakās unveiling must be feeling green with regret right now.
News portals such as The Republican Mech published bold-faced headlines accompanied with high-quality footage of the confrontation between the two designers. Even if they went a bit too far with their creative editing, the dramatized retelling of that day served to put their designs to the forefront of the news.
"Weāve already sold out our first production run!" Gavin exclaimed as he met Ves at a private dining hall in a hotel next morning. "Our buyers are practically knocking down Marcellaās doors right now. We had to limit our sales to one copy per customer. Demand is through the roof!"
"The free publicity is nice, but itās only a temporary phenomenon." Ves pointed out while eating his breakfast. "Whoever admits defeat in the upcoming duel will see their demand crater overnight. No one wants to buy a mech associated with failure."
The worst thing about the duel was that the format favored the Havalax. The raw specs didnāt lie and the Blackbeakās advance in endurance would never be able to come into play in a duel that only lasted thirty minutes at most.
In hindsight, the Blackbeak made for a very poor dueling mech, while the Havalax practically thrived in these circumstances.
"Do we have a pilot lined up?"
"I have someone in mind." Ves leisurely replied as he moved on to drinking his cup of tea. "Thereās a reason why I set the age limit to thirty."
The door to the dining hall slid open to allow the entry of a familiar face.
"Good morning Ves!"
"Melinda! Good to see you again. I didnāt want to call you up for this, but I really need your help."
Melinda Larkinson took a seat at the table and poured herself some tea. She dressed casually this time, but her powerful movements and predatory expression couldnāt hide the fact that she was a mech pilot. "Whoās this?"
"Thatās Gavin, heās in charge of marketing. We were just discussing some business before you arrived."
"Your mech business must be doing well." She remarked. "Youāre practically the talk of the town! Ticket prices for the match between the Velvet Fists and the Grease Monkeys have tripled overnight. Even the VIP rooms are fully booked!"
The mech duel attracted a lot of interest due to hype. Most people probably didnāt know too much about Ves or Dumont. They just wanted to witness a historic rivalry between two similarly talented mech designers.
Ves started to compose himself. "About that. Melinda, out of all the cousins I know who are here in the Bentheim region, youāre the only one whoās proficient in piloting knights. Iād like to ask you to be my champion for the upcoming duel."
The entire room plunged into silence. Even Gavin almost spurted out his coffee. He expected Ves to tap a professional mech athlete, or some kind of elite academy graduate.
"Why me?"
"Because I trust you. Because youāre a Larkinson. Because youāre both."
He didnāt need to say anything more. As a Larkinson himself, he knew how much the family prized their potentates. Every Larkinson with the aptitude to become a mech pilot had received a vigorous amount of training from the start. The family ensured that every Larkinson began their piloting careers with a solid foundation along with a couple of fully developed specialties.
For example, Raella excelled in piloting skirmishers and light mechs, while Melkor turned into a killing machine if he piloted a rifleman. Besides hard work, much of what they accomplished could be attributed to the training they received from the family.
Melinda looked dead-serious now as she weighed the offer carefully. "Iām not too sure about this. Sure, I know a thing or two about knights, but Iām more of an all-rounder than a dedicated knight pilot. Law enforcement mechs are a whole different beast, you know!"
Ves still remembered the mech she piloted when she rescued him from an assassination attempt. Her law enforcement mech consisted of an aerial hybrid knight that exchanged a sword for a fluid projector.
"Itās not a bad thing if youāre not a pure knight pilot. The Blackbeak is an offensive knight, so it performs at its best if you take advantage of its mobility. Itās still a knight, but itās got several things in common with more agile knights like skirmisher mechs."
No matter who he approached, Ves still wanted to persuade Melinda to take up his cause. She was family, and family was meant to stick together.
"This is a lot to take in, you know." Melinda breathed deeply. "Iām not a stranger of duels, but the stakes are awfully high. How much money is at stake?"
Ves gestured to Gavin, who supplied the latest estimate. "The first production model alone can be worth as much as 300 million credits if you manage to win. Collectors are willing to throw money at any mech that carries such a great piece of history!"
"Sheesh, Ves! Youāre sticking me into a mech worth 300 million? Why not deposit a few billion credits in my cockpit while youāre at it!"
"Actually, Miss Melinda, the outcome of the duel has far-ranging effects on the demand of the Blackbeak model. If we win, we can expect strong sales to deliver additional revenue the tune of two or three billion credits over the next year. If we lose, weāll be lucky if we can get the production line running at all..."
All of this piled more weight onto Melindaās shoulders. She had never been made responsible over so much potential gains and losses in her life. Her face turned numb at the dizzying amount of money being bandied amount.
"My salary is only around 200,000 credits a year. I really donāt know, Ves. Iām a decent pilot when Iām on assignment for the Planetary Guard, but Iāve never performed in front of the entire Republic. Do you know how many fans are tuning in to the match between the Fists and the Monkeys? Thatās one of the most popular dueling teams in the Republic! And Iām going to be showing off my skills in their half-time break!"
Obviously, Melinda couldnāt handle the pressure like a seasoned mech athlete. Ves wished that Raella hadnāt wandered off with Dietrich, because he could sure use some help in reassuring his cousin.
"Competing in public is not that scary when youāre good. I know youāre good. Think about it as an opportunity to wave the flag for the family. Show the Republic what a Larkinson can do! If you win the match, youāll not only help me sell more mechs, but youāll also boost the careers of every Larkinson in active duty!"
When Ves joined the familyās Steering Committee and attended their annual meeting, he learned that one of the familyās priorities was supporting the careers of their younger mech pilots.
Many of his nephews and nieces joined the Mech Corps with dreams of making it big. It took a lot of money and effort to distinguish themselves from the other talents in their units.
"Consider this as well." Ves continued. "The Larkinson Estate owns twenty-five percent of my company. A win will directly boost my companyās earnings, to the point where the family will potentially earn billions of credits in dividends down the line. Think of what the family can do with all of that money. We can increase the pensions for the widowers and provide better training for the young."
Not every Larkinson prioritized giving back to the family, but Melinda showed signs that she was receptive to the idea. She owed a lot to the family.
" Iām even willing to give you a fair share of what we gained. Have you ever thought about moving into a glitzy penthouse in the middle of downtown Dorum? I can pay for all of that."
This time, Melinda didnāt hesitate any longer. "Okay, deal! Iāll do it! Iāll pilot your damn mech in front of a circus! Just get me that penthouse!"