[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 467: Gearing Up

Ves experienced too many close shaves with death. Some of those incidents wouldn't have been so bad if Ves just made some better preparations beforehand. Therefore, after the Glowing Campaign, he began to setup several contingency plans.

One of his plans entailed obtaining many different equipment designs. If he ever needed something urgent, and possessed access to the galactic net, he would always be able to retrieve his database of designs and put them to use whenever he had access to a workshop.

Normally, acquiring such a vast database of designs was hard. Equipment manufacturers dearly prized their best designs and did everything they could to keep them out of circulation. Ves had to ask Dietrich to utilize his connections to the black market to obtain this valuable catalog of illegally obtained designs.

"Illegal or not, it hardly matters when my presence in the Detemen System is already an affront."

Ves started to select some choice devices to fabricate. His choice list included a decent-quality comm, an aircar that integrated a couple of stealth and ECM systems and a set of light combat armor.

He only hesitated on which backpack module he should choose. The light combat armor suit featured a modular slot in the back that could fit all kinds of auxiliary systems, from smoke generators to a powerful communications array.

"Right now, the most important priority for me is to go from A to B. I need to reach the Vandals, preferably without getting shot by my own side."

Ves was acutely aware of his current state of dress. His shabby outfit marked him as one of the many hoodlums that prowled the alleyways of Neron City. It was hardly an appearance that befit a mech designer.

"Getting a communications array will help me get into contact with the survivors of the Stubby Growler's destruction."

After a moment of consideration, he reconsidered and went for a poor man's version of a stealth module.

He truly wanted to pick the communicator, but other doubts stayed his decision. Trying to communicate with the Vandals risked being intercepted by the Vesians. That was why he didn't try to contact the Vandals through the galactic net either. The Vandals didn't care too much for the galactic net, and it was far too easy to be mistaken as a prankster.

Considering that he had to traverse across the entire city, some of it by foot, then a stealth backpack made more sense. It was nowhere near as effective as the stealth augment of his old comm, but it would help him hide from unfocused scans and weak recorders, making it a little bit more difficult for the Vesians to hone in on him once he entered a more densely populated area of Neron City.

The only problem now was that even if he picked the most basic versions of these designs, the workshop still lacked too many critical materials to fabricate them all. Ves scowled at Filkis.

"Your stock of materials is so poor. What have you been fabricating your mechs with? Most of your inventory is filled with junk!"

"I can't work with anything more expensive! They're harder to shape and too expensive for me to obtain."

"Show me your designs."

"Pardon?"

Ves extended his hands. "I want to see how good you are. Let me see your designs."

Filkis obviously didn't wish to embarrass himself in front of a more superior mech designer, but Ves was the one with the gun here. Filkis unwillingly displayed his complete design schematics through the command console's projector.

Ves studied the handful of designs. All of them fell in the light weight class, and consisted of variants of the same base model. However, the biggest thing to note was that the design actually depicted a felinid bestial mech.