The Mech Touch

　　The clan needed to spend a considerable amount of money and go through a lot of annoying bureaucratic procedures to get everything done.

　　The latter turned out to be a greater hassle than Ves expected. The governance of the Davute System was complicated and demand for territory on Davute VII was high.

　　A lot of ambitious pioneers and other enterprising individuals saw great promise in establishing a physical presence on a notable trade planet and did not mind spending more money to get their wish.

　　"Can you repeat that again, Benny?" Ves asked.

　　Gavin Neumann took a deep breath. "We just got back word from the real estate agent. The site we have picked out for the headquarters of our trade consortium is not cheap. If we want to have enough certainty to outbid other possible buyers, then we need to commit at least 4000 MTA credits."

　　"…"

　　4000 MTA credits might not sound much. He could buy around 33 copies of Gloriana's handbag with that much money.

　　However, that was not an indication that the plot of land was cheap. It was more of a sign that Gloriana's new pride and joy was too expensive!

　　The amount of money it cost for the Larkinson Clan to secure a rather modest plot of land in a prosperous district was enough to fund the acquisition of a modest capital ship back in the old galaxy!

　　Ves groaned and pressed his fingers against his forehead. "This is too much. We can purchase many other goodies with that much money."

　　"It is actually a reasonable price, all considered." Gavin answered as he used his comm to project a map of Kotor City, the capital planet of Davute VII. "The plot we've chosen is located in the periphery of the Financial District, which sits squarely in the center of the metropolis. Even though the Financial District is not completely built, everyone knows it will become the top destination for the biggest companies and organizations that are operating in Krakatoa."

　　"I know." Ves nodded. "It would have been nice if we could set up a base of operations in Nova Street."

　　"Don't even dream about it, boss. Nova Street is the prime location for all of the big trans-galactic corporations and major pioneering alliances. From the start of its planning, the big players have already claimed their plots of land."

　　"Even if they only intend to build floating structures?"

　　"They don't want anyone living underneath." Gavin stated. "Besides, if those floating palaces and office buildings ever experience any problems that compromise their ability to remain in the air, they need sufficient space to land in an emergency."

　　"What about other threats? It's not safe on the frontier. What will happen in the event of an alien incursion?"

　　"According to the plans, a large and extensive underground tunnel system will be made underneath the wealthier districts. Many structures, whether on land or in the air, will be moved underground and be shielded from most attacks coming from orbit or on the surface. It's a complicated and expensive arrangement and partially explains why it is so expensive to build real estate in this district. The tunnel and security systems of the Financial District are the best."

　　Ves scoffed. "They can't allow the elites and the people in charge to come to any harm. I can definitely believe that the security measures of the Financial District are stellar compared to the rest of the city. This is also exactly why we need to set up a presence here. Even if our trade consortium can only squeeze in at the edge, it is still better than any other location in Kotor City. The Financial District conveys a lot of prestige to those who are able to secure a place in it. Our future business dealings with the locals will become much smoother as a result."

　　In that sense, the plot of land was absolutely more valuable than what was obvious on the surface. The people in charge of selling the land already took all of these elements into account.

　　"Does that mean you are willing to invest in this plot of land?" Gavin asked. "It's not that impressive, to be honest. It's located in Beckerdale Street which sort of sits in the shadows of many other structures. The plot also only gives us the right to build our headquarters at ground level. There is another plot located above it that is reserved for the construction of a floating building. The price of that air plot is at least twice as expensive, so it is an extremely costly endeavor to buy both."

　　Ves grimaced when he heard that. Air plots were more valuable than land plots. Who wanted to live and work underneath many tons of floating mass that might potentially malfunction and crash on top of their heads one day?

　　Even if there were thousands of safeguards and so on, just the symbolism of the matter was not pleasant!

　　Fortunately, Ves had no intentions of actually working and living in the new place. He could just shove all of the concerns to other people. Let them worry about this faint possibility.

　　Paying 4000 MTA credits was not unacceptable considering all of the intangible benefits that the clan would get in return.

　　The question now was whether the clan should pay for all of this out of its own pocket.

　　"We can make the acquisition more bearable if we split the cost between all of the members of the trade consortium." Gavin suggested. "Even if many of the smaller parties cannot draw out 100 or so MTA credits right away, we can give them loans that they will pay back in installments."

　　Ves leaned back against his office chair and thought for a moment.

　　"That's a viable solution, but money conveys ownership. If we split the cost evenly, that will subsequently suggest that everyone is an equal partner in the trade consortium. That is not what I have in mind. I don't want to lose control of it and turn into someone else's plaything."

　　"We can't be too tyrannical about it either, boss. Our trade consortium will not be able to attract many willing members if we are in control of everything. You need to strike a balance. Minister Shederin has already suggested that we should aim to secure at least 25 percent of the decision-making power of the trade consortium. We can claim primacy because we founded it and paid for much of its expenses, but we won't claim absolute control, thereby preventing the other members from feeling they are solely dancing to our tune. If they aren't content, they can easily apply to leave our trade consortium."

　　The Larkinsons couldn't have it both ways. Absolute control was unattainable while total equality was unacceptable. The best solution going forward was to find a middle ground where the Larkinson clan gained additional rights but could still be overruled by a majority of members.

　　Of course, the power balance wasn't so simple on the surface. If Ves truly employed a spiritual network for his trade consortium, then everyone would know that the support of the Larkinson Clan was absolutely essential for its continued functioning!

　　The rules were rather light and generous because the proposed spiritual network substituted the missing functions.

　　If the Larkinson Clan left the consortium, that might not be the case any longer.

　　This provided enough guarantees to Ves that the trade consortium would not suddenly act against the Larkinson Clan.

　　"Let's just buy this plot and be done with it." Ves eventually decided. "It won't be easy to come up with 4000 MTA credits, but we already owe around 90,000 MTA credits anyway. Our debt burden won't grow that much bigger."

　　"Uhm, boss, we owe a little bit more than that. Despite selling a portion of the harvest from the Titania, our expenses are still considerable. Aside from that, we will have to spend additional sums of money to actually construct the headquarters building. We can't be too frugal. Not only will we run afoul of local ordinances, we'll also be embarrassing ourselves."

　　Ves sighed. "Then go ahead and borrow more money. By the way, what does our income look like these days? Are we doing better or worse?"

　　"It has largely remained stagnant as of late, but there are faint signs of optimism. The LMC's business operations in the Yeina Star Cluster roughly generate more than 5000 MTA credits a month. Much of it comes from selling mechs, though we are also collecting an increasing amount of licensing fees. Our old third-class mechs such as the Desolate Soldier, the Doom Guard and the oldest version of the Ferocious Piranha are still solid cash cows, though that won't last forever. Their sales are slowly trending downwards. Even the rise of third-party variants can't stop that from happening."

　　The mech market was constantly evolving. Better mechs were being designed and published with each passing day and the competition certainly wouldn't allow the LMC to reign forever!

　　In the absence of any new commercial releases, the rest of the mech industry stepped in to meet demand. Although it was well-known by now that changing the designs of living mechs often destroyed their living qualities, numerous mech designers found ways to mitigate the damage.

　　Ves didn't particularly care about this development at this point. He no longer valued his third-class mechs so highly so it was fine if others wanted to mess around with them. Though the LMC received a much smaller share of profits from the sale of third-party variants, at least these enterprising mech designers were still bringing in money from sources that initially weren't his customers.

　　The LMC currently adopted two different approaches towards third-party manufacturers.

　　The company still favored doing business with authorized manufacturers. These were the ones who signed favorable contracts with the LMC. In exchange for lowering their fees, they had to abide by strict quality standards and other requirements. They also weren't allowed to modify the designs without permission.

　　The LMC couldn't do much against those who licensed its mech designs from the MTA's internal library. These third parties were free to do what they wanted with the designs of the Desolate Soldier and so on as long as they abided by the terms of the standard contract as well as the relevant laws of the MTA.

　　It was the latter phenomenon that became increasingly more prevalent in the Yeina Star Cluster. More and more mech designers figured out how to work with them. As long as they didn't make too many changes, the new variants were still adequate living mechs!

　　"Given our financial pressure, we should do something about this ourselves." Ves mused. "We shouldn't neglect the LMC's business operations in the old galaxy much longer. If everyone start to think that we only care about the Red Ocean now that we have migrated here, we won't be able to collect 5000 MTA credits a month so easily anymore!"

　　"Does that mean…"

　　"I can promise you that our Design Department will put its focus on commercial mech design projects in the next design round. Once the Larkinson Army has received a bunch of exclusive mech models, I'm not in a hurry to give them more. We should use this opportunity to refresh and expand our commercial offerings."

　　Gavin looked a lot more hopeful now that Ves was finally willing to pay attention to the business side of the Larkinson Clan again!

　　"Will you put your focus on our business operations in the old galaxy or the new frontier?"

　　"Both." Ves said. "We have eight Journeyman Mech Designers and hundreds of assistant mech designers. We have enough design resources to direct sufficient attention to both. If our trade consortium also gets off the ground, we can probably solve our current logistical problems as well, which will make it viable for us to produce more mechs in-house. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still need to complete the current design round which will take at least a month."

　　"Understood."