The Mech Touch

　　Ves was rather happy with what he and his clan accomplished in the trading system.

　　The tentative new deal the Larkinson Clan managed to forge with Zachren Bilitsa might not be as big as he liked, but it had the potential to become a lot more lucrative if the initial signs were good.

　　Naturally, the Living Mech Corporation wasn't quite ready to enter the local scene as of yet. The Enlightened Warrior and Ferocious Piranha designs both suffered from inadequacies that made it difficult for them to compete against the most prevalent mech models in the market.

　　If the Larkinsons wanted to remedy this, then the Design Department needed to invest a lot of time and effort into designing mechs that were truly adapted to the Red Ocean.

　　For now, only the Monster Slayer had the potential to be a new cash cow, but it would still take a couple of months before Ketis finalized this project.

　　"At least our clan is on its way to profitability now." He whispered.

　　The income from the Yeina Star Cluster still provided the clan with a stable financial foundation, but expenditures had skyrocketed because of the inflated prices of every good and service in the Red Ocean.

　　Ves and his people no longer raised their eyebrows if they were forced to pay thrice as much for reactor fuel and five times as much for medical supplies. Even though everything was more expensive, the tech and quality of most of these goods were usually a lot better as well.

　　Aside from stocking up on goods, the Larkinsons also collected a lot of intelligence about the frontier zones up ahead. The Black Cats went out in full force and hung out in a lot of bars and other places in order to collect snippets of useful information that were not as well-known.

　　Calabast and her analysts collected all of this information and developed a more detailed and up-to-date overview of what was taking place in the surrounding regions.

　　They knew the locations of several hazardous regions.

　　They tracked the possible trajectories of dangerous alien fleets.

　　They located the most valuable frontier planets that were actively being fought over by numerous pioneering organizations.

　　They also heard about pioneers getting their hands on phasewater. Many of them proceeded to sell them to the Big Two for big payouts.

　　While not all of the information was reliable, the Black Cats nonetheless provided the Golden Skull Alliance with a much more thorough impression of what lay ahead.

　　After a quick discussion between Ves and the other leaders, they decided to head to the Davute System that was located in the Krakatoa Middle Zone.

　　Krakatoa used to be in alien hands until relatively recently. The MTA and CFA warfleets had swept through all of the major planets and neutralized all of the obvious major threats.

　　Nonetheless, a lot of fish still managed to slip through the net. It was up to the pioneers to finish the clean-up jobs and prepare all of the new locales for exploitation.

　　The Davute System started off as a base camp but evolved into a central meeting place just like the Pellysa System.

　　It was a lot smaller and less developed, though. Security was a much greater concern as rivals and enemies regularly generated a lot of friction when they came together.

　　Nonetheless, the Davute System was also the site of a so-called MTA colonization bureau. This was where local MTA personnel handed out missions that rewarded pioneers with a lot of MTA merits as long as they performed specific jobs.

　　Considering how few MTA merits Ves had left, he figured that it would be a great idea if he went on a couple of missions and built up a healthy reserve.

　　Although credits were still vital to funding the daily operations of the Larkinson Clan, Ves had never dismissed the value of merits. They were the high-level currency of the Mech Trade Association and could provide him with a lot of convenience that was normally inaccessible.

　　His lack of MTA merits made him feel quite constrained. If he had more of it, he would be able to gain more exemptions and get his hands on more exclusive goods.

　　"Those mechers don't do anything for free!"

　　With their new destination set, the people on the ground prepared for departure. Shuttles and transports bearing passengers and personnel constantly flew back and forth between Pejana and the fleet in orbit.

　　Before Ves departed Pellysa III himself, he decided to make an additional visit to Zachren Bilitsa's manufacturing complex located in the outskirts of the capital city.

　　Chief Fabricator J.R. Denner greeted Ves and his entourage of bodyguards once again.

　　"Patriarch Larkinson! I must say that you have caught us all off-guard with your unscheduled visit. If you announced your intention to stop by our complex in advance, we would have been able to prepare a much more formal greeting party for you. As it is, our personnel are all working on a tight schedule at the moment. We have just activated our first production lines and we still need to monitor the operations to see whether they are being performed correctly."

　　Ves did not look bothered. "I understand, Denner. I am not here to judge your people. I just want to take a look at how my first Enlightened Warriors are being produced. My living mechs need to be produced with a specific approach in order to maximize their potential."

　　"We are aware of your instructions. We have all studied the instruction manuals you have provided to us. While I cannot overhaul every process in the production halls, I have tried my best to tweak the operations to fall more in line with your recommendations."

　　The chief fabricator led Ves into the first production hall which served as a model for the other production halls.

　　The production lines here were already being put to use. Numerous bots, materials and personnel were moving back and forth so that they could quickly and efficiently produce the Enlightened Warriors that Zachren Bilitsa had promised to make and sell in the short term.

　　Ves saw that each production line was in charge of producing a single complete mech, which fell in line with his recommendations.

　　He was afraid that the local plant would adopt a different production approach where different production lines all produced the same parts. This was not as conducive to producing living mechs because too many random people without a considerable amount of emotional attachment became involved in the production of a single machine.

　　"I see that your production teams are rotating from the production line with every shift change." Ves remarked. "While this is an efficient way to handle production, it won't do my living mechs much good. The smaller the group of people working on any single mech, the greater their cohesion and investment in their work."

　　Chief Fabricator Denner responded with an awkward smile. "We cannot do that, sir. Our production lines must stay as active as often as possible, and since our crew wear out faster than our machines, that means we have little choice but to assign several shifts to every production line. The most I can promise to you is that I will ensure that the same shift teams will remain attached to the same production lines. They will still possess a degree of ownership and responsibility towards the same mechs."

　　Ves reluctantly nodded. It was not his business to tell Zachren Bilitsa how to run its operations. The industrial company already possessed a lot more know-how and experience on running a production plant than the Larkinson Clan!

　　Nonetheless, living mechs were substantially different from regular mechs and Ves really didn't want Zachren to screw them up. He made sure to express his opinions to Denner in the hopes that this plant might still implement a few more operational changes.

　　To be honest, Ves didn't think that Zachren Bilitsa would go out of its way to implement any further changes. They would only slow down production and make the branch even less valuable to the parent company.

　　Pretty much every worker here wouldn't be able to see the difference anyway. The Enlightened Warriors and the Ferocious Piranhas produced in this branch would never be as good as the ones fabricated by his own people aboard the Spirit of Bentheim.

　　This was why it was much more preferable to set up his own manufacturing complex. If he was in charge of everything, he could set any rules he wanted even if they made the plant less productive.

　　Yet Ves wasn't willing to commit to such an investment. Outsourcing production to third-parties who didn't really understand living mechs was far from ideal, but it was a decent start compared to the alternatives.

　　Overall, Zachren Bilitsa's production processes weren't all that bad. Denner and his subordinates knew what they were doing and they all worked without cutting too many corners.

　　The question was whether it would stay this way. Ves could not rule out the possibility that Denner or a higher-up might feel pressured to speed up production, which would inevitably compromise the quality of the output.

　　Though Ves couldn't do anything about that, he did have something in mind that might keep the plant workers on the right track.

　　At the end of the tour, Ves and Denner stepped back outside.

　　"Before I go, I'd like to pass on a gift to your complex." Ves stated as he headed over to his shuttle.

　　"Oh? What do you intend to provide to us? I hope it is nothing too valuable. Company policies prohibit me from accepting any gifts above a certain value."

　　"It's nothing like that. Let me introduce you to it first."

　　Once they stopped in front of the shuttle, he activated his comm and transmitted a brief command.

　　A few seconds later, a pair of floating bots carried a statue out of the vehicle.

　　The man-sized statue instantly made an impression on Denner for several reasons.

　　First, the statue was a handmade totem that Ves had crafted earlier this week.

　　Second, the statue bore a high degree of likeness to Ves.

　　Third, the statue possessed a fairly weak but noticeable glow!

　　Denner grew confused when he studied this gift. "What… is this?"

　　"This is a totem. A medium totem in fact." Ves answered. "Though the statue looks like me, it is actually based on Vulcan, an… existence that might help you and your craftsmen increase the quality of their output. You see, Vulcan here is highly supportive of craftsmanship. I won't explain the mechanics behind this totem, but I recommend that you place it inside one of your production halls so that its glow can affect the workers around it. If you track the performance of your workers, you should see that they will work slightly better than before."

　　The chief fabricator found it difficult to accept these statements at face value. To his eyes, the statue was a solid piece of metal that contained no electronic components at all. How did it work? Why did it possess a glow? Was it safe to expose his own workers to this unknown and unverified effect?

　　There were way too many uncertainties!

　　"Patriarch… we cannot accept your gift. While we appreciate your generosity, our company strictly prohibits the open expression or discussion of any religion or religious matters. Your totem unfortunately violates this policy, so I have no choice but to ask you to take it back. I hope you understand."

　　Ves pressed his lips. "It's not a religious icon. Vulcan is not a god. He is merely a… mascot of sorts. His purpose is to give shape to the totem and make it more understandable to people."

　　"Pardon?"

　　Denner wanted to scratch his head. What was this patriarch talking about?

　　Ves grinned. "You see, this totem isn't ornamental. It is functional. Before you tell me to take it away, let me explain what it can do for you and your men. I am sure you'll change your mind once you learn of its benefits."