[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 146: Name

While Ves got to know Raella better, Melkor remained an enigma. Even though he suspected that Raella knew his story, his niece stubbornly shut her mouth when Ves sent out a probe.

"Melkor's story is his own to tell. I don't want to get on his bad side." Raella explained as she shuddered in an exaggerated fashion. "Watch out for the quiet ones."

Throughout the entire trip, Ves only gathered a couple of clues that shed a bit of light on Melkor. First, he hadn't shed the habit of comporting himself as a military officer at the start. He slowly stopped moving around in a rigid fashion when he drew too many eyes. A guard should not attract too much attention, after all.

Second, Melkor never withdrew his visor. Ves almost swore his older cousin even showered and slept with the visor on. Its large but sleek appearance signified its incredible origins. Ves hadn't even seen such a high-end gadget in the Bright Republic.

He wondered what Melkor saw when he constantly donned the visor. Was he constantly looking for threats? Or was he secretly browsing the galactic net like a comm junkie?

In any case, Melkor never appeared to be too distracted, so Ves didn't call him out. Besides his eccentricities, Melkor always followed his instructions.

In contrast, every time he spoke to Raella, she always acted confrontational. Ves had to tread lightly around her in order to avoid setting her off. She still harbored revenge fantasies against Virma, and wasn't afraid to be vocal about it whenever the Silver Chancellors played a match.

"I don't mean to pry, but maybe you should stop watching the mech games." Ves suggested one day. The Greenwind already passed the halfway mark into her journey to Bentheim. "It's not like you can salvage your career."

Predictably, Raella growled at him and left the suite. Ves imagined she intended to vent her frustration in one of the Greenwind's simulator pods.

He knew he hadn't been gentle, but she truly needed a dose of reality. The sporting leagues loved their controversies, but Raella had taken it too far. The sooner she got over this bump in her life, the sooner she could get her head back into the real game. Ves imagined she could be of great use to him once he earned her loyalty.

"On my own, I'm nothing." Ves admitted to himself. Besides Lucky, he was completely at the mercy to anyone who pointed a gun at him. Even if his feline companion could shred through a squad of infantry, Lucky had no way to threaten a mech.

Only mechs could guard against mechs.

One of the reasons why Ves assented to selling a twenty-five percent stake was because he wanted to co-opt some trustworthy mech pilots. Of all the possible people he could entrust his safety, he could never go wrong with family. For all the frequent internal squabbling, the Larkinsons never resorted to the kind of backstabbing Virma had pulled off on Raella and her friends.

Even though he questioned Raella and Melkor's reliability, it didn't change the fact that they shared the same surname. Ves could not imagine in a million years that someone could subvert his own family against him. Against the shadowy influences arrayed against them, trustworthy guards were worth their weight in exotics.

When the Greenwind finally arrived at Bentheim, Ves departed from the ship along with his two companions. The space station's loaders also brought out their personal mechs and temporary stowed them away.

This time, Ves wanted to conduct some business, so he took a shuttle and descended to the surface. He reached the upscale business district where his mech broker holed up in her lair.

After leaving his escort in the office building's foyer, Ves took the elevator to the top floor where Marcella awaited his arrival.

"Good to see you again, Ves!" The hefty woman greeted him with a smile. She offered him a glass of liquor. "Want a drink?"