The Mech Touch

　　Granted, many pioneers had no qualms at all about the latter, but the Larkinsons were too 'honorable' to remain unbothered.

　　Ves fully understood why most of his clansmen would rather keep their hands clean. Even if it was hypocritical as others would most definitely complete the job anyway, the way people behaved largely influenced their ethos and vice versa.

　　If the Larkinsons engaged in reprehensible conduct regardless of who they targeted, then they would inevitably compromise their honorable spirit. The distance between massacring aliens and massacring humans became a lot smaller.

　　Although Ves was completely different from the more noble individuals of his clan, he did not want all of his clansmen to turn as rotten as him. Not only would it be more difficult to trust his own subordinates, the MTA and many other external parties might not treat the Larkinson Clan as generously as today.

　　It was difficult to build up a good and honest reputation. Performing lip service was not enough. The Larkinsons had to embody its best ideals everyday in order to maintain their positive image.

　　As long as the Larkinson Clan maintained a good name, it became easier to make different friends and close new deals.

　　In fact, part of the reason why the local branch of Zachren Bilitsa reached out to the Larkinson Clan was because the branch director became attracted to its good reputation.

　　After getting betrayed by its previous business partner, Zachren Bilitsa learned the hard way that credibility and goodwill were not negligible!

　　These were just one of the many benefits of attaining a good reputation. Without it, the clan would lose out on a lot of cooperative ventures in the long run!

　　Calabast's presentation did not present any obvious opportunities to the Larkinsons. None of the remaining mission types sounded particularly attractive, but that was to be expected. The MTA never suffered a loss in any of its transactions.

　　"Out of all of the possible options presented in this meeting, I think the resource mining and infrastructure-building missions are the most suitable ones for us." General Verle stated. "Our fleet does not consist entirely of carriers. One of our more notable advantages is our large fleet of non-combat capital ships. We have the means to quickly and efficiently complete numerous productive assignments with the help of capital ships such as the Andrenidae and the Spirit of Bentheim. The same cannot be said for other pioneering fleets."

　　Everyone's eyes lit up. The general was right. There were a lot of pioneering fleets that only excelled at fighting and plundering. What few non-combat vessels they brought along were usually employed to support the fighting forces.

　　Of course, there were plenty of other fleets that included a notable amount of mining ships, refinery ships and factory ships.

　　The main reason why ambitious pioneers acquired these expensive burdens was to facilitate their own colonial ambitions.

　　It was a lot easier to get a colony up and running if the colonists didn't have to build essential infrastructure in advance. If they could start mining resources and turning them into finished goods right away, then that would shave valuable months and years in the development time of their colony settlements!

　　Anything harvested or produced by other fleets were usually reserved for internal use. Compared to founding a successful new state, the attraction of earning a bunch of MTA merits was not as compelling.

　　Therefore, the competition for these boring infrastructure missions should not be great, especially since they were fairly antithetical to the romantic image of pioneers.

　　Founding new colonies, beating exotic alien fleets and making off with huge amounts of plunder were much more exciting!

　　Though Ves certainly wished to do the latter, he knew that his forces still needed time to get up to strength. Until then, he was willing to temper his appetite for risk and start off with a more modest assignment in order to acclimate to the Krakatoa Middle Zone.

　　Once the expeditionary fleet had a better handle of the lively region, Ves might decide to head somewhere more exciting.

　　Once Calabast concluded her presentation, the Larkinson leaders all shared their thoughts about what they should and should not do in the Krakatoa Middle Zone before they finally signed out of the virtual meeting.

　　Calabast and Ves lingered after the rest had left.

　　"I know you always hold back information from us all." Ves stated to his spymaster. "Come on. What did you find out that you're not telling us all? What am I missing from this picture that you have presented?"

　　He pointedly gazed at the star map of the Krakatoa Middle Zone. The region was so close to the frontlines of humanity's ongoing invasion that there had to be a lot more surprises in store.

　　"Hm. You're no fun." Calabast huffed as she crossed her arms. Her demeanor became a lot more whimsical now that she no longer needed to maintain as much professionalism. "Despite what you think, I don't withhold intelligence because I want to keep you in the dark or because I want to maintain my information advantage. There's a lot of disinformation out there. Pioneers seek to fool and mislead their rivals whenever possible. Information that is available in the public might be horribly outdated. Just because a star system remained quiet a few months ago is no guarantee it is still calm today."

　　Ves sighed in exasperation. "I'm aware of your difficulties, but right now I feel like we're going in blind."

　　"I just held a presentation!"

　　"Anyone can piece together at least half of the information that you've shared with us today. I haven't heard anything that makes me think that you're earning your salary, which is extremely generous if I might add."

　　"You brat! My analysts and I worked hard to verify all of the rumors and hearsay that we managed to obtain. We had to sift through hundreds of thousands of scattered tales and pick the ones that are credible enough to present to you today. The 99 percent of stories that I have decided to hold back truly aren't worth sharing in my opinion."

　　"What if you're wrong about something? What is the story that is close to the threshold? What might be happening in Krakatoa that you're not certain about?"

　　Calabast hesitated for a time. After Ves repeatedly pestered her, she finally relented.

　　"Fine. If you want to know, I have been considering whether to tell you that there may be phase whales active in Krakatoa."

　　Now that was a lot more pertinent to Ves!

　　"Are you sure?"

　　"I'm not. That's why I decided to keep it under wraps until I have gathered more evidence to support this assertion. Right now, the chatter about phase whales in Krakatoa is only slightly elevated compared to other zones. Ordinarily, I wouldn't think much of it, but then I think back on who or what originally injured the Titania."

　　"Shouldn't the phase whales be roaming around in our current zone if that's the case?"

　　"That's a good possibility, but there may be even more of these aquatic aliens in Krakatoa. You see what I have to deal with. Trying to come up with the right answers with few reliable sources of intelligence at my disposal is an impossible task. Do you know how hard it is to provide you with good intelligence when we keep traveling to new areas?! We never stick around in a single location long enough to establish a good network of spies and informants. Krakatoa is a region where the value of timely and reliable intelligence has skyrocketed, but we are dangerously short of it due to our constant movements."

　　Calabast truly needed to get that off her chest. Ves was briefly taken aback at her loss of control.

　　Then he realized that Calabast was so good at controlling her expression and emotions that he should never mistake her conduct as natural. Everything she did was always deliberate!

　　"What do you want?" He asked in an exasperated tone.

　　"For starters, do you intend to stay in the Krakatoa Middle Zone? I need to know how long you intend to reside in this region."

　　"I haven't thought about that to be honest." Ves lamely admitted. "I figured that we would stay in the Krakatoa as long as there is enough interesting stuff to explore. If it turns out that we're better off traveling to a different place, then we would just go elsewhere. Isn't that the point of keeping our clan mobile?"

　　"I understand the convenience that this approach provides, but there are serious disadvantages to traveling around too frequently. According to my own impression of the Krakatoa Middle Zone, it should be more than enough curiosities to keep you occupied for quite some time. If you can commit to staying in Krakatoa for at least three to five years, then I will have sufficient reason to set up an enduring spy network in the zone. Even if we eventually make our way to another zone, we will still have a reliable information channel for decades to come. The important variable here is the length of our stay. We need to be physically present in Krakatoa for an extended amount of time in order to recruit a sufficient amount of reliable informants."

　　"I see."

　　Ves could see the value in establishing a proper spy network in Krakatoa. If the Larkinson Clan intended to remain in the Red Ocean for the long term, then it would be useful if it established its own information channels.

　　The Black Cats should not only become active in Krakatoa, but every other relevant zone. The greater their spread, the more juicy information the Larkinson Clan received!

　　All of this would not only allow Ves to be informed of possible dangers ahead of time, but he would also gain early word of any lucrative opportunities!

　　"I'll try my best to keep us in the Krakatoa Middle Zone for the duration of our MTA protection period." He promised. "It doesn't make much sense to go any deeper into the Red Ocean. The battlefields are still so fresh that the chance of encountering remnant alien fleets is too big. Krakatoa strikes just the right balance at this time. It is still unexplored enough to yield sufficient rewards but not dangerous enough to wipe out our fleet because we entered the wrong place."

　　Calabast looked a lot more gratified after Ves made his commitment. "I'll hold you to that, then. We can do much as long as we settle down and invest time in Krakatoa."

　　Before they ended the virtual meeting, Ves pointedly looked towards the projection of Arnold. The exobeast spent much of his time napping on the floor like a lazy piglet.

　　"How is your pet as of late? Has he shown any unusual changes?"

　　"Arnod has grown smarter." Calabast smiled at the chubby, eight-legged exobeast. "He hasn't been licking my boots as much as before. I think it is beginning to dawn on him that this isn't proper behavior. I haven't seen any signs that he has grown stronger. I regularly take him over to the Dragon Den's for checkups, and his body hasn't changed all that much. The only noteworthy anomaly is that his cells are aging slower than expected, but that isn't making much of a difference for a moment."

　　"Interesting." Ves murmured as he recalled another instance of anti-aging.

　　His Aspects of Lufa far exceeded the natural lifespan of organic statues!

　　"Well, keep bringing Arnold to the doctors for checkups. He is undergoing a slow but steady mental transformation at the moment, and I'm interested to see what that does to his body over time."

　　Would Arnold grow as big and formidable as Qilanxo back when she was alive? Who knew!