The Mech Touch

After a few days of unwinding on the surface of Chance Bay, the leaders of the Larkinson Clan were ready to get back to work.

They couldn't afford to take extended vacations. The clan needed to accomplish so many different tasks that it needed a lot of direction from the top.

For this reason, the relevant clansmen all attended a meeting in the morning according to standard time.

Since a lot of Larkinsons were stationed on different ships or at different hotels and venues on the surface of Vulit XIV-B, they decided to hold the meeting in a virtual space.

There were downsides to doing this. The Big Two watched everything and they most assuredly eavesdropped on any signals being transmitted back and forth.

However, there were no better alternatives that could offer the Larkinsons a more secure way to discuss their affairs.

"Just give up, Ves." Calabast told him a few minutes before the start of the meeting. "Even if we all stuff ourselves in the most isolated and secure conference room aboard the Blinding Banshee, the MTA has a wealth of high technology at its disposal that could easily penetrate our crude security methods."

That just made the Larkinsons throw up their hands and just work on the assumption that a silent representative of the MTA was sitting right next to the conference table. There was no point in fussing about this issue any further.

Once everyone's virtual avatar arrived in the virtual conference room, Ves stood up to commence the meeting.

"Arlight, folks. I hope you've managed to recharge and get your bearings in the Red Ocean, because our true work starts now. Anyone who has stepped foot on Chance Bay should have been able to get a good glimpse of what this part of the cosmos is like. As the new focus of human civilization and the melting pot of some of the best humans from the old galaxy, we're in a much bigger pond right now. It's a drastic difference from what natives from the most underdeveloped parts of the galactic rim like us are accustomed to. There's no other way to describe our situation except to state that we are small fry."

This was a considerable step back from their status back in the old galaxy. Even though the Golden Skull Alliance still wasn't able to contend against entire states, their strength and prestige had reached a level where not a single pirate or private organization wished to provoke their strong mech force.

Sadly, the expeditionary fleet had lost most of its advantages after entering the Red Ocean. The lack of mechs and combat carrier and the difficulty in procuring both significantly put them all at a disadvantage.

"It's not all bad, though." He smiled at the virtual avatars. "We have two distinct advantages that we can count upon to get ahead. First, we have the 10-year free trade writ. Not only does it allow us to pay less money for tickets in every central star node, we can also save a lot of money purchasing a lot of bulk goods. Although we are already well-stocked with many different goods and supplies, we should make sure to purchase plenty of items that we previously didn't have access to before we depart."

There were a lot of items on their shopping list that they couldn't obtain back in the galactic rim. The Red Ocean offered a much greater diversity of products due to the MTA's greater efforts and the rising entrepreneurship of incoming pioneers.

Sure, supply was low and prices were exorbitant, but at least the Larkinsons had the option of stocking up on technological marvels such as anti-teleportation technology and other sophisticated systems with money rather than with merits!

The discussion on what necessities they should spend their money on dominated the first half of the meeting. Plenty of people made useful suggestions on what their fleet lacked and what they needed to do in order to improve their chances of surviving the myriad of threats that were lurking in the new frontier.

"There's these powerful sentient aliens called the phase whales that are rumored to be lurking in hidden pockets of space all across the Red Ocean." Commander Casella Ingvar stated. "Their methods of combat are very hard to deal with, but if we acquire anti-phasing or dimensional reinforcement technology, we at least have a chance of killing one of these powerful whales."

When Ves discovered the existence of phase whales and heard what they could do, he thought back on a couple of past encounters and incidents.

He wasn't the only one in the meeting who recalled certain matters.

Ves briefly pulled his attention away from the virtual space and threw a glance at Lucky, who was casually basking in the filtered sun rays pouring through the window of his hotel.

"You better be careful, Lucky. Your days of phasing through every deck and bulkhead might be over soon." He grinned.

"…Meow?"

Back in the meeting, the various leaders weren't short of suggestions. The clan's incredibly long shopping list grew even more cumbersome when people kept mentioning more 'necessities' that they all had to obtain in order to make their stay in the Red Ocean a little easier.

Chief Minister Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson grew increasingly more despondent as people kept bringing up additional must-buy items.

Ves noticed the man's discomfort and raised his hand to interrupt the next speaker. "Raymond, how healthy are our finances? Will we be able to procure everything we need from this central star node?"

The chief minister shook his head. "Not even close. When we initially entered the Red Ocean, we already accrued a debt of 8 trillion hex credits. This figure should have been larger, but we managed to alleviate our financial burden by carrying those 4 extra capital ships through the greater beyonder gate. Nonetheless, our debt burden has already grown by 0.5 trillion hex credits and this is just the first week! Hearing all of these spending plans makes me want to remind you all that we can't go on a spending spree like before. Not only has our clan grown faster than our earnings can keep up with, everything that's for sale in the Red Ocean is much more expensive than the products back in the old galaxy."

The former COO of the Living Mech Corporation was one of the few Larkinsons in the virtual conference room who paid attention to how they needed to finance all of their ambitious plans.

Other Larkinsons didn't possess a background in business, finance or economics, so they neglected this issue or just assumed that the LMC would wordlessly foot the bill like before.

Ves let out a deep breath as he pressed his fingers against his forehead. "I'm aware that our increasingly inadequate income is limiting what we can do. Designing a new commercial mech is definitely on the agenda, but it will take months before we can develop another potential cash cow. Until then, we need to make do with what we have."

It took time to put a new product to market. Raymond knew that they could do nothing but wait until the Design Department pumped out a batch of new commercial mech designs that would finally refresh the LMC's stale mech catalog.

"We should discuss our business operations in the Red Ocean at a later date." The chief minister spoke. "I have a number of ideas on how we might be able to get a footing in this lucrative but difficult mech market, but it will require you to make decisions that might not sound comfortable to you at first."

Well, that sounded pleasant. Ves looked forward to hearing what Raymond had to offer, but it was obviously too specific to discuss in this general meeting.

"Alright, we can speak afterwards. Is there anything else you wish to bring to our attention, Raymond?"

The old man nodded and brought up more encouraging news. "Although the LMC is no longer growing as rapidly as before, it is still a stable company that is able to deliver consistent profits. You have also shown you have the capability to design bestsellers. As long as we present our case to a bank or other financial institution, we can easily borrow tens of trillions of hex credits. The main limiting factors that prevent us from borrowing 100 trillion hex credits right away is our lack of history and the inherent risks involved with operating in the Red Ocean."

"A lot of moneylenders had taken root in the Red Ocean, but none of them are as simple as they appear on the surface." Foreign Minister Shederin Purnesse warned. "Not only do they see a lucrative opportunity to earn lavish profits from ambitious pioneers like us, they also seek to forge new connections. If we ever borrow money from a bank in the Red Ocean, then we must make sure who is backing that particular institution."

That was a helpful reminder. Few companies that had set up shop in the Red Ocean were standalone entities. The mechers, fleeters, Terrans, Rubarthans and many other wealthy and powerful parties based in the old galaxy had extended their tentacles to the new frontier.

Their goal wasn't as simple as making money. What they truly sought was to achieve dominion in the new colonies of mankind.

Since Ves prized his independence, he could not afford the Larkinson Clan to become an unwitting pawn to a wealthy stranger.

"Noted." He said in acknowledgement. "We will definitely need to take more loans in order to fund our considerable short-term acquisitions, so we can't avoid entanglement. The most we can do is to pick our working partners carefully. Raymond, Shederin, I'd like the two of you to work together to select the most appropriate bank to borrow money from. You should already know who to avoid."

"We'll get right on it, sir."

With that taken care of, the meeting went back on track. They soon arrived at one of the most important necessities of the Larkinson Clan.

"I'm sorry to say that we are currently unable to procure any additional starships." Chief Ship Designer Vivian Tsai said. She looked a lot more weary than usual due to her lack of results. "I have approached over a hundred different shipyards based in many different zones, but none of them are willing to hear us out or accept our order. The shipbuilding companies are already swamped with orders, many of them originating from pioneering organizations that are backed by powerful first-raters, prestigious Master Mech Designers or other major customers. Given our current status, strength and wealth, we are just minor customers to these companies, and that means that we need to wait at the back of a very long line."

The news did not surprise Ves at all, but it was still depressing that one of his pessimistic predictions came true.

"What about the second-hand market? Do we have better luck there?"

Vivian shook her head again. "There are an enormous number of pioneering organizations snapping the first available ship that is listed on the marketplace. In most cases, pioneers aren't stupid to sell their own ships. They would rather hoard them or trade them directly to trusted partners in order to obtain favors."

"What about relying on producing ships ourselves? We have the Diligent Ovenbird."

"We do, sir, but that doesn't count for much. If we cut as many corners as possible and focus on building basic light carriers that can carry the most mechs with the least amount of effort, we can probably churn out one vessel per month once our shipbuilding crews get over the initial hurdles. However, even the flimsiest starships require a lot of materials to build. We need to secure a large, stable and consistent supply of ship-grade alloys and other materials if we want to build our own ships."

Ves sighed. "Minister Shederin, I'll leave that up to you. Help Vivian and the Naval Design Department get in touch with a material wholesaler."

"I will try my best, sir, but our chances of signing a contract with a material supplier is extremely low given our current conditions."

Great.