[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 130: Mark II

Calsie walked past the newly installed walls and turrets with a nervous gait. No one stayed calm when they had to face those ferocious defenses. Various bots patrolled the grounds, making sure to inspect the college girl when they hovered close.

After receiving a final inspection from a uniformed security officer, she finally got to enter her new employer's workshop. Compared to the deadly gleaming turrets, the interior appeared much more down to earth.

She quickly reached a living area where a handful of couches, tables and even a drinks dispenser occupied the room. Ves already sat at one of the couches and gestured her to take a seat while he petted a marvellous-looking mechanical cat.

"Please take a seat."

"Mr. Larkinson, I have your report for the month." Calsie said and slid over a secure datachip. She could have sent it through the galactic net, but considering the sensitivity of the information she put it in a hardcoded form first.

"Give me a summary. Anything going on that I should know about?"

"There are hints that another player from Bentheim has entered the field. A very wealthy corporation is making inroads with the White Doves."

"Have you determined their identity?"

"From what my contacts in the Pioneers have inferred, it's likely to be the Ricklin Corporation."

Ves stopped petting his cat, causing the animal in question to meow in indignation.

"The Ricklins. Sure enough, they're thinking about taking revenge." He sighed, and scratched Lucky's head in order to placate his cat. "A traitor used my second-ever fabricated mech to wipe out at least half of their upper echelon. Shouldn't they be consolidating their assets and reorganizing their ranks?"

"Turmoil is still wracking the Ricklin family, but support is building up around a young genius of the family. The chaos is expected to end as soon as the last holdouts accept a compromise."

"Great. So I'll have to deal with two sources of outside pressure. Not only do I have to worry about the tiger next door, but I also have to guard against the distant meddlers from the Friday Coalition."

Calsie tried to reassure her employer. "Don't underestimate the central government. Cloudy Curtain is one of the many satellite planets that surround Bentheim and keeps their influence in check. Rittersberg will not allow Bentheim to take effective control over one of their critical food sources."

The Bright Republic benefited a lot from the Bentheim System. The population on its only inhabited planet swelled to ridiculous proportions, to the point where its own domestic agriculture couldn't feed their hungry mouths.

"Hopefully you're right, but you never know what might happen in the future."

With all the unrest and terrorist attacks, no one cared about improper influence. If Ves wanted to ensure his safety on the political front, then he might have to bring in outside influence on his own after all.

"Bringing in my family will still tarnish the Larkinson name." Ves concluded. "Involving the Whalers should be my nuclear option."

With nothing else to report, Calsie left after a short talk with Ves with new instructions. Since his troubles only started, Ves expressed interest in joining the Pioneers.

"I can't remain half-hearted and ignore political realities. If I don't join their circle, I'll remain vulnerable to their whims."

Despite what went on, he still had a job to do. Ves resumed his work on the redesign project. He spent a week on developing a highly adjusted armor scheme. To be frank, he could not find many opportunities to improve over the original design. There were only so many ways he could employ the HRF armor plating with his current skills.