The Mech Touch

His own advisors prohibited him from visiting Ulimo Base.

It was too risky to dispatch Ves on such a high-risk mission. His status and importance to the Larkinson Clan was far too great to allow him to visit a formidable pirate fortress while he was heavily outnumbered and outgunned.

Once the Dry Snakes discovered that the infamous pirate killer sneaked into their own home, They would certainly lock down Ulimo and seek to kill or capture Ves at all cost!

The entire point of dispatching a small force of Larkinsons disguised as pirates was to limit the losses in the event of a disaster.

If the Dry Snakes and its vassals managed to identify and eliminate the Larkinsons, then the Larkinson Clan and the task force wouldn't actually suffer that much losses!

It was an entirely different story when someone indispensable to the Larkinson Clan such as Ves personally took part. A hundred or so disguised Larkinsons could never protect their clan patriarch against the entire might of the Dry Snakes and their allies!

Therefore, Calabast and Major Verle did not hesitate to shoot Ves down in the strongest possible terms. It didn't matter if he was in charge. In fact, it was exactly because he held the highest position why he shouldn't wander around so carelessly!

Ves grimaced at their strong objections. "I can take care of myself. This isn't my first rodeo. Last time, I managed to escape captivity and took over this very ship from some determined CRC guards!"

"You almost died when a missile struck close to you." Calabast immediately retorted. "And let's not kid ourselves that Lucky did most of the work. Without him, you would have turned into Lady Curver's obedient puppet by this time."

"I just want to visit a pirate base! What's the harm in that?! Just look at all of the traffic coming in and out of Ulimo Base! The pirates are unwilling to stop their trade activities, which means that the gates are wide open!"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT A LEADER AND A MECH DESIGNER OF YOUR STATURE OUGHT TO HEAD STRAIGHT INTO ENEMY TERRITORY!"

The argument raged on for several minutes. No matter what excuses Ves retorted to, he was shot down time and time again.

"Meow meow meow!"

Even his own cat joined his critics!

Ves sighed in exasperation. "Fine. I understand. There is no logic behind visiting Ulimo in person."

His reluctant admission finally caused Calabast and Major Verle to feel relieved. They were both aware of his penchant of getting into trouble, and they did not want to see him stir up a mess in the middle of a hostile pirate stronghold!

"Good. Now that we have settled this issue, we should prepare the necessary disguises."

The Larkinsons captured a number of pirate sh.i.p.s from the Crona Lords and various other pirate groups. The sh.i.p.s might not be in the best of shape, but the Larkinsons did their best to fix them up in order to make use of their space to haul more valuable loot.

Part of the loot consisted of salvaged pirate mechs. Though Ves and the task force originally intended to break them down and recycle the most valuable materials, they could easily turn around and restore them back to functionality instead.

There was one big problem, though.

"The pirate sh.i.p.s we captured may look shabby, but they are undeniably associated with one of our victims." Calabast noted. "What do you think if one of the sh.i.p.s we stole from the Crona Lords shows up at Ulimo?"

"The Dry Snakes will immediately suspect that we're Larkinsons!"

This was not the only possibility, of course. Task Force Predator left a lot of slaves behind at Xiphard Base and other pirate bases who didn't commit any crimes against humanity.

In order to cultivate an upright and honorable mindset in the Larkinson Clan, Ves explicitly pushed his people to act properly whenever possible.

This was why he deliberately encouraged his clansmen to deviate from the customs of the Peacekeepers, who often resorted to expediency and executed everyone in a pirate organization regardless of their status.

So far, it seemed to be working. From what Ves had observed from the monitoring systems throughout the sh.i.p.s of the task force, his clansmen remained relatively pure and uncorrupted in this filthy environment.

In any case, while it was possible for the disguised Larkinsons to pass themselves off as freed slaves, that would only invite the local pirates to kidnap them wholesale!

Ves had a better solution. "Unlike most pirate groups, we have a lot of mech designers and naval engineers in our task force. The pirate sh.i.p.s and mechs we've plundered from our enemies are like putty in our hands. With the abundant amount of raw materials we've acc.u.mulated, we can easily modify the structure of those sh.i.p.s and mechs until they become unrecognizable. While there aren't a lot of people in the Nyxian Gap, there are thousands of pirate gangs roaming around. I don't believe the Dry Snakes are familiar with every single outfit."

After a bit of thought, Calabast looked interested. "This can work. How long will it take?"

"As long as we allocate enough skilled personnel to this task, we can probably perform this transformation in a couple of days. Changing the exterior of any machine is very easy. As for the internals, as long as we limit the modifications to some quick and dirty tasks such as partitioning one big cargo hold into two smaller compartments, then that shouldn't take up a lot of time."

The time spent on preparing their disguises was very crucial. With the wedding looming closer and closer, the Larkinson Clan couldn't dilly-dally around in the Nyxian Gap!

After Ves threw this suggestion to Calabast and Major Verle, the two could take care of the rest. There was no need for Ves to concern himself too much with the planning and execution of this initiative.

One way or another, the Larkinsons were determined to take a look inside Ulimo Base!

In the next couple of days, Task Force Predator busied itself with transforming two pirate sh.i.p.s.

Ulimo Base strictly prohibited the entry of large groups of pirates. The Dry Snakes wouldn't be able to maintain control anymore if too many outsiders ran around inside the public spaces of their stronghold!

Various ship specialists and engineers carefully modified the exterior and small portions of the interior of the pirate sh.i.p.s. They carefully worked away the marks that revealed their ship class or prior ownership.

It didn't matter whether the sh.i.p.s didn't conform to any particular class anymore. There were so many ship classes in existence that not even the CFA maintained a complete database. In addition, it was very normal for ship owners to steadily modify and upgrade their vessels over time, thereby causing any aging vessel to gain unique identities.

Ves actually appreciated this treatment. Sh.i.p.s lasted a lot longer than mechs, so their owners developed a greater affection for them. The more responsible among them always treated their sh.i.p.s as more than floating coffins in space.

If more people adopted the same mindset towards mechs, then maybe Ves wouldn't have to work so hard to make people appreciate these majestic machines.

What interested Ves more was the people assigned to enter Ulimo Base. There were plenty of ruffians and ruffian-like characters in the Larkinson Clan.

The Swordmaidens had the distinct honor of possessing an actual pirate pedigree. Though they pursued an elite path, that still did not change the fact that they lived the life of a pirate for a very long time.

They only possessed two flaws. First, they were very distinct and did not work well alongside other people. Second, most of their in-depth knowledge related to the Faris Star Region.

This was why Major Verle decided to assign only a small number of Swordmaidens. They just needed to be there in order to help the others make sense of obscure pirate customs and culture.

The second group that had to take part in this mission were the intelligence operatives of the Black Cats. Though Ves never paid much attention to this group, he trusted in Calabast's ability to raise competent spies.

These underlings of her had studied a lot about Nyxian Pirates and were up to date with most region-specific events. They were also excellent at passing themselves off as genuine Nyxian pirates.

The downside was that reading about the Nyxian Gap was one thing. Living the Nyxian pirate life was another! This was why Major Verle did not dare to trust the Black Cats could handle every situation.

The bulk of the fighting forces of this exploration mission would be supplied by a combination of battle Criers and Flagrant Vandals. Commander Cinnabar and Commander Orphan both picked out their roughest, most unruly personnel in order to fill up the ranks of their fake pirate outfit.

Of course, their ruffian-like nature would likely be fairly tame compared to real sc.u.m, but that was not a huge issue in itself. After encountering various pirate groups in the Nyxian Gap, Ves and everyone else learned that pirates could be quite disciplined and orderly when they needed to be. Pirates pursued strength, and there was no better way to squander it than acting like idiots!

When Ves scanned through the list of people who were assigned to take part in the mission, his eyes widened as he spotted two notable names.

He decided to call both of them to his stateroom for a personal talk.

The first one to arrive was the mech and technical consultant for this mission. Ketis marched through the hatch with firm, steady steps. Her floating greatsword hovered after her like an obedient pet.

"You called, Ves?"

He nodded. "Take a seat."

When she sat down, she looked at him with confidence. "Did you want to discuss my participation in the upcoming mission?"

He nodded. "I have serious doubts about that. I heard that you actively volunteered to take a look. Why?"

"I feel restless, Ves. The Nyxian Gap reminds me far too much of the frontier. I find it frustrating to coop myself up in this ship when I could be out there."

"You're a very promising mech designer. This is a sensitive period of time for you. You were already making so much progress in your advancement towards Journeyman. If you just design a couple more mechs, I am sure you will be close to breaking through. By then, your status inside and outside the Larkinson Clan will change completely."

Ketis crossed her arms. "I can't stand it, Ves. Designing mechs day-in day-out is not my style. Just like you, I need to go out and challenge myself. I think this mission is a great opportunity for me to widen my horizons. Maybe I'll even be able to gain some inspiration that will sharpen my design philosophy. I haven't made that much progress in it ever since I was able to develop my own superpower."

The two talked some more. Ves continued to try to talk her out of participating, but she resolutely wanted to go. Clearly, this was something her entire mind, body and spirit yearned. He became increasingly more reluctant to bar her way.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ves eventually sighed. "It's going to be risky, you know that? If you ever end up in trouble, I will do my best to bail you out, but it will be difficult."

"I'm not a fragile flower. I can handle it. Besides, with all of our preparations, I'm sure we'll be able to slip in and out of Ulimo Base without attracting any suspicion. The Dry Snakes don't really pay too much attention to the sc.u.m that visit its marketplace."

As a mech designer, Ves understood how much Ketis could benefit from this little adventure. It was the same reason why he wanted to go as well. He became a little softer because of that.

His student knew the risks and accepted them. Whether she could truly gain something from observing Ulimo Base or not, she might very well become a much better mech designer after broadening her horizons. Ves didn't have the heart to stand in the way of her passion.

"Fine.. but take good care of your safety. In fact, let me see all of your gear. Our clan has collected some very good materials, and I'm willing to use some of them to strengthen your equipment."

"Sure!"