The Mech Touch

5733 Straight Talk

Ves felt rather bad for the Colonial Federation of Davute.

President Yenames Clive must be gnashing his teeth once learned that Ves had taken away another toy that should have belonged to his colonial state.

Ves had already done it before by depriving Davute of ownership of the Ultimatum model and many future commissions.

Now he pulled off a similar stunt by denying Davute a guaranteed supply of Tristan's valuable hyper gems.

It was bad form to resort to this measure, but Ves decisively pressed through because this was too important for him to miss out on. He did not want anything to jeopardize his clan's supply of these strategically significant products!

Though Tristan was taken aback by Ves' boldness, he ultimately shrugged and accepted the changing reality.

If Ves was really able to convince Davute to transfer the contract, then how could Tristan possibly resist?

As far as Ves was concerned, there was no possibility for failure. His clout and reach had grown so much that he no longer needed to show an excessive amount of deference to a second-rate state.

The abundant finances of the Larkinson Clan also helped a lot. Ves had no intention to coerce Davute into suffering a loss. If a problem could be solved with money, then that was great.

"That is all. I do not have any further requests and proposals for you, Tristan. Of course, if you wish to propose other forms of cooperation, then feel free to voice them. Do you need help with research? Do you require access to special goods and services?"

The Journeyman shook his head. "No. I already have enough."

"Don't you need a steady supply of high-quality exotics and hypers in order to progress your research?"

"That is so, but I can already obtain them by relying on my existing channels. I do not need any special treatments."

"What about phasewater? Can you secure that as well?"

That caused Tristan to frown. "I may need your help in procuring a small sample. I am not confident I can complete your first submission if I have not personally worked with phasewater."

"No problem."

"Why do you care so much about my gems, Ves?" Tristan asked.

"They're good."

"They are… effective, but also costly."

"We have the money. It is quite simple, Tristan. What my clan and I need the most is a strong Larkinson Army. Our armed forces must be as powerful as possible in order to earn more war merits and secure other useful gains. Stronger mechs will also result in fewer casualties, which will make a significant difference in the long run. So what if it makes my mechs twice or thrice as expensive as normal?"

"The sums do not add up this way." Tristan shook his head. "My gems are quite effective when used on regular second-class mechs, but the same cannot be said for quasi-first-class mechs. Unless I have made a breakthrough in my research, do not expect to see the same level of performance gains as I have managed to reach with my luminous fire fey. If I succeed, then the resulting hyper gems will most definitely be at least an order of magnitude more expensive than my current products. Will you still be willing to pay for my hyper gems when they are effectively several times more expensive than one of your quasi-first-class mechs?"

"I think you are underestimating my present financial strength. The money you are talking about is nothing compared to the stuff I am engaged with nowadays. What matters is that most of my troops all have access to the most powerful second-class mechs that we can supply to them. Perhaps ordinary states and organizations think that investing so much money on personnel is wasteful, but I do not agree with that. Mech pilots deserve a lot more care. So long as my finances allow it, I am more than willing to splurge on your gems on a yearly basis just to give my mechs an edge that cannot be replicated by the competition."

Tristan was the only mech designer that Ves knew of that could produce these special gems. That put the former Fridayman in a much more powerful bargaining position than he realized.

However, Ves dominated the conversation from beginning to end. His presence and his prestige continually strengthened the impression that he was the one who occupied a superior position in this negotiation.

Ves was well aware of this effect. He was not above taking advantage of his power, but he made sure that any agreement he made remained mutually beneficial to both sides.

What ultimately mattered was that he secured his desired goal. It did not matter to him that Tristan's gems were not strong enough for the time being. There was always room for improvement.

Ves had already seen what vastly improved gems could do for mechs. He just had to bide his time and wait until Tristan progressed far enough that even first-class mechs benefited from his gems.

That may take years, though. Ves could not solely focus on meeting his long-term needs. He also needed to work on accumulating more short-term advantages.

His gaze shifted from his old friend to the only woman in the room. The dusky-skinned engineer was not a mech designer, but that did not reduce her value at all. She was still capable of developing advanced technological applications without needing to rely on esoteric mech designer stuff.

It was developers like Dr. Avoqee who supported the mech industry and supplied mech designers with a lot of fancy new tech and gadgets to put into their mech designs.

"Dr. Czilia Avoqee. Thank you for accepting my invitation. As you may surmise, I have an interest in cooperating with you and the company you are working for. The stealth field fey that you have successfully developed is a remarkable product, but the base product is too low-end for my clan. Are you able to develop an improved first-class version of your stealth field fey?"

"It should be possible." Avoqee said. "The durability, energy reserves, heat management, overall run time, fault tolerance and other factors should all experience comprehensive improvements. More importantly, the higher specifications will also make it possible to hide the emissions of more powerful mechs, such as the quasi-first-class mechs that your clan are known to prefer. Do not expect us to be able to do so without limit. First-class mechs are so much more powerful that we will have to develop a completely new version of stealth field fey to hide their powerful emissions."

"That is okay. The need for area cloaking is not that acute at the first-class level. I would be more than happy if you can deliver a quasi-first-class solution."

"It should not take too long for us to design an enhanced stealth field fey as our development teams will primarily be working on an existing technological template. The cost will be much greater, but you should not have a problem with that. How many units do you expect to order from our company?"

"It depends, doctor. If your product is good enough, then I have no objection to ordering a thousand of them at the start. I don't think we will employ them all of the time, but I will make sure that my armed forces make regular use of them. Perhaps they can even be used to covertly escort the vulnerable shield infiltrator fey into close proximity to an alien fleet."

There was nothing much for the two to discuss. The stealth field fey did not contain anything interesting like Tristan's hyper gems that held far greater significance than the product itself.

Ves was fine with that. If Heq-Lock Integrated Technologies managed to come up with a more powerful technological application, then there would always be opportunities to negotiate another deal.

It did not take long before Ves turned to the final guest.

"Your shield infiltrator fey has impressed a lot of people, including me. It is a product that combines amazing capabilities with manageable weaknesses. You have already clarified that it will be a lot more difficult to develop an improved version of your product, but is it still possible for you to do so without letting the cost go through the roof?"

Ves might not have any money problems for the time being, but he needed to be careful about where he spent his money.

The difference between the shield infiltrator fey and all of the other fey models was that the former was expected to be non-retrievable.

Once it passed through a transphasic energy shield, it was not expected to come back.

This meant that anyone who made regular use of them had to treat them as consumables rather than more durable combat assets.

Making heavy use of consumables was a surefire way to strain the finances of any organization. Not even the Larkinson Clan could employ improved shield infiltrator fey without a limit, especially if they were loaded with transphasic explosives.

"It is too premature to develop an upgraded version of my work." Kelsey Ampatoch honestly said. "I have little confidence in my ability to keep the costs under control. I do not think that better mech designers are able to produce better results either. The greatest constraint is that we lack access and awareness of higher grades of exotics and hypers that are tough enough to resist more damage, but also malleable enough to imitate enemy patterns. I intend to wait for material scientists to identify or synthesize the specialized materials that I need to develop the upgraded variant that you need."

"I see. That is a decent plan I guess. I think our clan will make do with your regular shield infiltrator fey for the time being." Ves decided. "Now, let us stall no further. You must have worked quite hard to catch my attention. You have come a long way from home, Rubarthan. Why have you decided to participate in a second-class design contest?"

Kelsey Ampatoch had been preparing for this conversation for a long time. He had studied Ves extensively and figured out that the Senior Mech Designer generally liked it when people were being sincere and honest without showing any duplicity.

The first-class mech designer could appreciate that as the Rubarthans tended to be fairly direct as well.

"I want to work for you. Consider my shield infiltrator fey to be my resume and my proof of sincerity."

Interesting. Ves calmly folded his fingers. He already predicted this response, but that did not help him decide how he should proceed.

"Let me say that your solicitation comes as a surprise. I was not actively looking to recruit more first-class mech designers at this time."

"Yet you have already hired one in the form of Alexa Streon. Since you have found it acceptable to recruit a Terran mech designer, I think you should have no objections to hiring a Rubarthan one. I can assure you that my loyalties to the princes are not high. I will pass any test you give me, whether it is centered around mech design or other qualities."

The more Ampatoch spoke, the more Ves admired the Rubarthan. The man demonstrated plenty of confidence and daring.

Yet that also made Ves more suspicious about the man. This situation seemed way too convenient to him. There had to be a catch.

"Why do you insist on joining my clan? Are you dissatisfied with your existing opportunities in the Rubarthan Pact?"

"Yes." Ampatoch replied. "I am merely one among many Journeymen in Rubarthan space. Your clan is still short on first-class mech designers, so by joining you at this early stage, I can be of much greater significance to you and your organization. I see an opportunity to help you build up your mech organization and gain access to far better conditions than if I continue to work for Isthmus Manufacturing."

"You do know that I partially own that company, right?"

The first-rater nodded. "That may be true, but I doubt you understand how our company is actually run from the inside. I can help you analyze and monitor Isthmus Manufacturer if you are willing to bring me into your clan. It may not be clear to you, but I have observed many faults that are holding it back. None of the managers or leading mech designers are willing to upset the status quo after the disruption caused by the Great Severing, but if you are different from them, then maybe you will be able to push through the necessary reforms."

"Hmmm…"

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