The Mech Touch

As much as Finlay's explanations made sense, he was only a single, biased source.

Ves would be a fool if he believed everything Finlay said. At the very least, he had to take into account that Finlay distorted or omitted the facts. The Sentinel's one-sided account only shone a single light to the story.

One of the downsides of staying at the private box was that Ves had no one else to ask for a second or third opinion. While the box provided him with some needed privacy, the isolation from the majority of the auction goers also played into Finlay's intentions.

Nonetheless, Ves accepted the circumstances because he believed he gained a rare glimpse into the true thoughts of the ruling class of the Sentinel Kingdom.

Everything he heard so far sounded plausible.

Time continued to pass by as Ves eagerly harvested more information from Finlay.

In the meantime, the doors to the main hall opened up. A crowd of robed, suited and armored figures slowly entered the hall and took their seats. Groups of them shoved their seats together to form an island within the darkness.

So far, the auction hall was still dimmed in darkness. Only the faint ceiling light and the lights shining from the guests themselves prevented them from bumping into obstacles.

Seeing how many wealthy guests attended the auction, Ves began to wonder how much support the Circle of Mota enjoyed.

"How many Sentinel nobles have taken part in the Circle's exchanges?"

"Every noble house."

That was a surprising answer! "Everyone?"

"Perhaps not at the same time. Some houses are much more opposed to pirates than others. However, not every noble in a single house thinks the same way. There are always a couple of black sheep in the family who believe there is little harm in dealing with the Circle. They do not make up for a lot of people, though, so only a third of the noble houses are truly eager to take advantage of the services that the Circle of Mota provides."

The picture that Finlay painted spoke of a closer interdependence between the Sentinel nobles and the Nyxian pirates. While both were ostensibly enemies, they depended on each other as well.

"The trade between certain houses and pirates is very lucrative." Finlay continued as the auction hall continued to fill up. "You can even say that certain nobles and certain pirates have grown very comfortable with each other."

"They became partners." Ves remarked.

"Yes. Certain pirate alliances are secretly backed by certain noble houses and vice versa. Well, backing is not the right word."

"They benefit from having closer ties to each other while still remaining wary of each other."

"Yeah! That's how some of the shadow alliances have formed. For the most part, we accepted that certain parties made friends across the other aisle. In order to facilitate these partnerships and provide a better infrastructure to conduct exchanges, the Circle of Mota emerged to provide a way for both sides to get in touch with each other."

"Who founded the Circle? Who controls the Circle?"

"I don't know. That's not something that is commonly known. It's best if you don't poke around too much."

"I see."

The question who was actually in charge of the Circle of Mota continued to gnaw at Ves. It was one thing if the Circle was led by a hidden consortium of nobles and pirate leaders. He wouldn't even raise his eyebrow if the royal house pulled the strings.

However, if the true masters of the Circle turned out to be the Five Scrolls Compact, then Ves had to be extra careful!

There was a possibility that the Compact or an agent of them kept an eye on the spiritually-reactive goods that were about to come up for auction. If Ves appeared too eager to obtain these two goods, then he might be drawing attention that he really didn't mean to attract!

Ves turned his gaze from the increasingly more occupied main hall to the disguised form of Finlay.

If Finlay bid on the goods that Ves wanted to obtain, then the extra layer of separation served as a form of protection.

It wouldn't be of much use if the Compact controlled the auction hall, but it was better than nothing.

"Why are you so insistent on adding taboo weapons onto your Spyre Helixes?" Ves asked again. "I understand the argument you try to make, but with the amount of money you are willing to spend, you may as well employ five-hundred normal mechs instead."

"It's too risky." Finlay's shadow attire jerked. "We can't let the attack be traced to us. The retribution that we will be subjected to would ruin us all. With regards to covert operations like these, the less people we involve, the less likely it will leak. The operation has to be conducted with as little mech pilots, ship crew and support personnel as possible. One additional person more means bringing on an extra risk factor. It only takes one informer to warn the pirates of an impending attack."

Ah. That explained the rationale for using expensive doom crawlers instead of cheaper mechs. Finlay's superiors wanted to bring a certain amount of destruction towards a target. However, they were unwilling to employ too much manpower for fear of leaks.

Under these conditions, it made more sense to employ a smaller force of high-value mechs than a larger force of weaker mechs.

Yet another question quickly emerged in his mind. "Who will pilot these mechs?"

"We aren't investing our own forces to this endeavor. As I said, we can't let this operation tie back to us. We have to keep the pirates in the dark. We've employed a large and somewhat trustworthy dark mercenary corps for this operation."

"Doom crawlers aren't easy mechs to pilot. Every heavy mech requires special training to pilot proficiently. Most pirates have never come in touch with a doom crawler."

"We have already taken that into account." Finlay replied confidently. "The entire reason why we went out to buy the Spyre Helixes in the first place is because it's a doom crawler design that is native to the Nyxian Gap. I'm told that it's been designed to be easier and simpler to pilot than normal. If we bought doom crawlers designed in civilized space, then they would have been inoperable in the hands of mech pilots who aren't trained in their use."

"There's a good reason why doom crawlers require special training."

"It's unnecessary for the Spyre Helix model of doom crawlers. I'm told that they are highly automated and that even an advanced mech cadet can pilot them. It's not as if doom crawlers require fine control. The dark mercenaries we've retained for this operation have already expressed their confidence that they have enough mech pilots to put the Spyre Helixes to good use."

Ves frowned when he heard that. He always disliked too much automation in mech. While it was important not to overload the mech pilot with too much irrelevant input, the degree of automation in the Spyre Helixes was so extensive that it sounded as if the mech pilots were barely in control over their own machines!

"The automation of the Spyre Helixes are tailored to its conventional weapon systems. If you want me to upgrade their design with different weapon systems, then the programming will have to change as well. That requires a lot of work."

"Is there a problem?"

"Depending on the adaptability of the Spyre Helix's programming, it may take a lot of time to adjust its programming towards the use of nuclear cannons and nuclear missiles. Otherwise, the doom crawler is liable to launch a nuclear missile at a target that is merely fifty meters away, expecting a smaller explosion but getting a much bigger and more destructive one that damaged its own frame!"

"...It's fine if the Spyre Helixes do their jobs. We don't expect more from you. None of our people are piloting the doom crawlers anyway. If a number of them end up firing at themselves, then at most we will have to pay additional compensation fee to the dark mercenaries."

The dark mercenary corps that accepted this ludicrous mission must be truly mad to accept it! Who would ever want to pilot eighty engines of nuclear destruction against one of the local powers of the Nyxian Gap?

Ves felt the urge to cut open the head of the dark mercenary commander and see if the brains had been replaced by candy or something!

"The dark mercenaries must be paid very well."

"Oh yes. We not only offer rich remuneration in the form of valuable hardware and supplies, but we have also entered into an ongoing partnership. Dark mercenaries are not as unreliable as pirates. While the latter are more predominant and hold most of the territory, they make for treacherous business partners. This is a lesson that we have painfully learned."

Ves doubted that dark mercenaries were much better than pirates. They were both dishonorable scum who were willing to do anything to satisfy their greed!

"About the commission that you expect me to perform." He raised. "If you want me to accept, then it will help if you provide some guarantees."

"That's not a problem, Rho-Sigma. We can draw up a contract under the auspices of the Circle of Mota. One of the reasons why we prize the Circle of Mota so highly is that they can be trusted to act as neutral guarantors to any deals we make. They also mediate in any disputes that might arise and issue a fair judgement. Their track record is so good that no one has ever thought to replace the Circle with another organization."

That also made sense. The Circle of Mota would have never existed this long if they lost their credibility as neutral actors. By showing no favoritism towards the Sentinels or the Nyxians, they managed to maintain the support and confidence of both.

"So how will this work?" Ves asked.

"If you accept the commission, you will have access to all of the relevant files in the form of a secure terminal in an enclosed design studio that we have rented from the Circle within this marketplace. In no circumstances are you allowed to copy the data or transfer them elsewhere."

"So I will be doing the work in that very same room?"

"Yes. We'd like you to complete your design work as fast as possible there, preferably before the Circle of Mota packs up and evacuates this site. The marketplace can't stay up forever as the authorities are constantly on the lookout."

"How much time is that?"

"I'm not sure, but it won't take more than two weeks. Is that a problem?"

That was plenty of time for Ves. He estimated that he could do a decent rush job with a matter of days. A week was enough to turn the Spyre Helix into an adequate new weapon platform.

"The time frame is acceptable." Ves replied confidently.

"Good. I've heard that Journeymen are a lot faster in this regard than Apprentices. It will be very inconvenient if your work is interrupted because the Circle of Mota is forced to pack up prematurely. We will compensate you for the work that you have already done if that happens."

"I want everything."

Since the conversation had turned into a negotiation, Ves might as well see if he could get the most out of this deal!

"That is not acceptable." Finlay pushed back. "You will have an incentive to force the Circle of Mota to move early. What if you send your partner to lure the authorities towards this site? No. You will only get paid for the work you have accomplished. The faster you complete the design, the less likely we will issue you your partial reward."

"How will my work be judged?"

"The dark mercenaries sent one of their representatives to this place. Since they'll be the ones who are piloting the upgraded machines, they'll be the ones to judge the adequacy of your modified designs. Only when they are satisfied will you complete the mission. The Circle of Mota which holds your rewards in escrow will pass them on to you. Does that sound agreeable?"

"Hm. Perhaps, but if the dark mercenary representative is too picky, we'll quickly have a problem."

The negotiations continued as the start of the auction approached.