The Mech Touch

Even though Ves knew that Micky Tarukan deliberately sought to manipulate him by exposing the true origins of the Larkinson Ancestor, it worked.

Ves inexplicably developed a stronger connection with the Rubarthans.

There was little rational basis for this connection. The New Rubarth Empire had produced a huge amount of exiles over the ages.

Few if any of them ever managed to return to where they came from, so it was generally understood that they could no longer call themselves Rubarthans from the moment they crossed the border.

To Ves, whatever drama and controversy his distant ancestor got caught up in was completely irrelevant to the Larkinsons who lived in the present day.

However, just knowing that his ancestor used to be a rather prominent and powerful mech pilot in the New Rubarth Empire caused him to be filled with a bit of pride.

The Larkinsons came from good stock.

Ves couldn't wonder what would have happened if the Larkinson Ancestor did not become implicated in the power struggle that caused the death of his patron.

Would the Larkinson Family be able to thrive in the New Rubarth Empire?

Would the Larkinsons find a way to excel in a much more competitive environment and rise up the ranks?

Would the family produce an oddball mech designer like Ves one day?

No one could say for sure. History took a very different turn at the time that completely closed off all of these possibilities.

Though Ves was ready to move on from this topic, he still wanted to obtain one more answer.

"What is the name of the military family that my father served?"

The chief executive smiled. He already anticipated that Ves would ask this question.

"Your father used to be a proud retainer of the old and long-established Moses-Sinclair Family. It has a long tradition of serving in our navy, but after the Big Two came to power and deprived our Empire of the right to field starships, the military family hastily embraced mechs. With that comes a need to find mech pilots who possess the right qualifications and training to pilot all of the newfangled machines. Fielding automated battle bots in Rubarthan space is an exceptionally poor idea as we have many technologies that can subvert them in seconds."

"So that is why the Larkinson Ancestor couldn't escape the fate of getting drafted?"

"Correct, professor. The scarcity of potentates with high genetic aptitudes has caused the Moses-Sinclairs to cast a wide net and conscript large quantities of young talents of civilian origins. Many different Rubarthan parties have done the same. Mech pilots used to be especially scarce in a time where many disarmed groups urgently needed to rebuild their armed forces in order to defend their interests during a time of transition. In my opinion, the Moses-Sinclair Family treated your father much better than many other employers at the time. I believe that it would have only been a matter of time before he married into their ranks due to his talent and contributions."

"You mean they are greedy to integrate his genes in the family bloodline." Ves made a clever guess.

"Our understanding of genetic aptitude was much more superficial during the early years of the Age of Mechs. The people who became introduced to mechs assumed that the ability to pilot mechs was much more dependent on good genetics than hard work. The reality has proved that the opposite is the case, but it has taken several generations before that has become clear."

Ves knew his history well enough to know that this was the case. He felt a bit more mixed about the Rubarthans when he thought that his distant ancestor had come close to integrating himself in a long-established Rubarthan military lineage.

Thinking about all of these what-ifs was fun and all, but that did not mean that Ves had suddenly reinvigorated his Rubarthan heritage.

He could play the same game with the Terrans. If he looked far enough back in history, the Larkinsons used to be citizens of the great Terran Empire. Every human could ultimately trace their heritage back to Old Earth.

No matter whether he traced his heritage back a few hundred years or a few thousand years, he no longer saw any meaningful distinction between the two. The Rubarthans should be just as foreign to him as the Terrans.

"Let's get back to business." Ves spoke as he just received a quiet transmission from Gavin. "My advisors have just mulled over the exclusivity deal that you have proposed. We are intrigued by the offer to take care of all of the Larkinson Clan's business in the Rubarthan Pact under the condition of exclusivity, but this is too heavy of a commitment for us to embrace right away. Deals like these are usually struck among parties that have already cooperated with each other for years."

Tarukan did not look too surprised at this response. "That is normally the case, but we are living under exceptional circumstances. The Age of Dawn has just begun and the introduction of the Hyper Generation has phased out many old mech models. Change has become a necessity and only those who can keep up with the rapid pace of progress can stand in the end. Isthmus Manufacturing has survived many generational shifts and understands best that the stars of yesterday may not shine as brightly the next day. We are constantly paying attention to the rise of the next stars, and you are particularly promising for multiple reasons. It is entirely plausible for us to skip all of the unnecessary steps and cooperate earnestly as soon as possible. Both of us enjoy a high reputation in the business community, so there is little reason to mistrust each other."

That was true. Ves constantly insisted on maintaining a squeaky clean reputation, and that had often allowed the Larkinson Clan to receive special business opportunities.

Nonetheless, that did not mean that Ves was willing to extend a lot of trust to Isthmus Manufacturing.

"Reputation does not determine everything." Ves shook his head. "While I am willing to believe that you hold a lot of goodwill towards us, the same cannot be said for everyone else in your company. Even if that is not the case, this can always change in the future. You should know as well as I do that there is an enormous potential for abuse once you have struck an exclusivity deal with the LMC. The absence of competition within the territories of the Rubarthan Pact means that there is little pressure for Isthmus Manufacturing to correct its actions."

The Rubarthan business leader turned around and gave Ves a reassuring smile.

"If trust is not enough to believe in our sincerity, then we can negotiate on adding additional clauses to the contract. We are not requesting an exclusivity agreement because we want to limit your options and lock you in. On the contrary. We want to support you to the greatest extent because we believe that your work has unlimited potential. Letting us be your exclusive agent within Rubarthan space will give us the confidence as well as the proof that you shall entrust us to produce and sell your products across the mech markets of our colonial superstate. We are more ready to start expanding our production capacity once your next mech models have proven to be just as successful as your Fey Fianna."

It became clear that Isthmus did not want Ves to switch to working with other large Rubarthan mech manufacturing companies.

To the former, Ves was the equivalent of a cash cow!

Even if the odds were still fairly low, Ves had already begun to show traits that corresponded to Star Designers.

If there was even a 5 percent chance that Ves had the potential to advance to Star Designer one day, then it would have been more than worth it for Isthmus to make a lot of concessions just to partner up with such a powerful mech designer!

Of course, once Ves reached this exalted rank, he would gain more than enough clout and influence to break or renegotiate the original agreement, but why should he have to wait that long to change the terms of the contract?

If Isthmus thought that Ves already held a lot of promise, then the company needed to show that through concrete actions!

Gavin and the other advisors behind the scenes already told Ves that he could drive a far harder bargain in this situation! He just needed to be more assertive and stop Micky Tarukan from controlling the rhythm of this virtual dialogue!

"Let me give you a counteroffer." Ves bluntly said as he adopted a more aggressive demeanor. "From what I can see, there should be many Rubarthan business groups that would be more than happy to cooperate with the Living Mech Corporation. You are just the fastest of the bunch. While I appreciate your sincerity and your willingness to make a large bet on me, there is still a shortage of trust seeing as how we are both strangers with existing ties between each other. In order to ensure that your company handles our mech business properly in the Rubarthan Pact, my clan demands a minority stake in Isthmus Manufacturing. 20 percent and the right to appoint a director on your board should be enough to satisfy our needs."

Tarokan had too much control over himself to produce an outburst, but it was still very clear that he heavily disapproved of this counteroffer!

"What you are asking for is too much, professor! Isthmus Manufacturing is a publicly traded company, so there is nothing stopping you from buying stock from other traders. However, our company is so highly valued that you will have to raise at least trillions of MTA credits in capital to become a top 10 shareholder in our company. As promising as you may be, we have great doubts whether you are able to acquire so much capital. We can issue a more modest amount of stock to you pending the approval of our shareholders, but they should only be willing to give you a fraction of your previous quote."

That was peanuts. Ves was not interested in holding 1 or 2 percent of an important Rubarthan mech manufacturing company. He would only be able to passively earn dividends with such a tiny stake!

Ves shook his head. "I will never enter into an exclusivity deal with a company if I cannot exercise enough control. I would rather wait for the LMC to enter the Rubarthan Pact the old-fashioned way. Look, a 20 percent ownership stake may sound disproportionate to you if you take my present circumstances into account, but it will be regarded as a bargain a few decades later. My potential is so great that I have already received the recognition of multiple god pilots and Star Designers. I am probably the only tier 3 galactic citizen that is willing to do so much business with Isthmus. It is only fair to give me enough ownership for me to get invested in your fine company."

Ves tried his best to make it clear that he was more than willing to walk away from this opportunity if Isthmus did not oblige his requests.

So long as that was the case, Isthmus should have little choice but to make heavy concessions!

Tarukan responded with a strained smile. "You can name drop all of the tier 1 galactic citizens you want, but our proposal does not encompass them at all. There are many talented mech designers who possess unlimited potential. I can easily contact hundreds of them in the Rubarthan Pact. I admit that your prospects are brighter, but potential must still be realized in order to hold value. This is anything but guaranteed in a time of great change and upheaval. Just as the ancestors of your Larkinson Family experienced a rapid turn in fortune, your bright future might darken in an instant due to unforeseen circumstances."

That was a sharp blow. Ves grew a bit annoyed at the attempt to equate his own circumstances with that of the Larkinson Ancestor.

To hell with it. Ves initially wanted to act with restraint, but now he just wanted to beat Isthmus Manufacturing into submission!

Before he could put more thought into the idea, he quickly recalled the Novastella cat statue from his System space.

Emma's glow immediately started to spread around the projected hall. Noise and other artifacts increasingly became more visible as the spread of destruction energy had begun to degrade the

Communication link!

Ves even injected a bit of destruction energy into Emma's spiritual fragment. This caused the cat statue to glow even brighter while exuding a greater sense of threat!

"You might not recognize my value as a mech designer who is destined to do great things, so how about this? Let me own a part of your company, and you shall have a new stakeholder who has befriended one of the great god pilots of your colonial superstate. I am not afraid to tell you that I am on speaking terms with the Destroyer of Worlds. Is that enough to convince you to give me a 20 percent stake in Isthmus Manufacturing?"

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