The Mech Touch

Ves and Professor Taigen talked over the comm for half an hour. Neither of the two raised their voices or said anything offensive to each other.

Instead, they conducted a polite but increasingly less productive talk on the merits of collaborating with each other.

Part of their discussion was informative. Ves revealed in greater detail how he could enhance the value of a law enforcement mech while Professor Taigen explained his side of the business from an insider's perspective.

Unfortunately, neither of them came close to forming an agreement during this time. Both of them stood on opposite ends and neither were willing to give up too much ground.

Ves maintained a tough stance throughout the negotiations because he was confident in his own value.

Unless the Voikens could point out a competing mech designer who was able to impart the same kinds of glows to mech designs as the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, there was no way that Professor Taigen could undermine Ves' superior negotiating position!

This meant that if the Voikens wanted to secure a potentially lucrative business deal, they needed to make a lot more concessions in order to persuade Ves to work together.

However, Professor Taigen had an obligation to uphold the interests of his mech company.

There was no way he wanted to sell his services cheaply to the Larkinsons! That would make the partnership too uneven for the Voiken Family!

Both sides understood that while Ves held the upper hand in the negotiations, the Voiken Family would not accept a deal where they had to work like slaves only to earn a fraction of the earnings of their collaborative efforts.

The talks had not yet reached this point, but the lack of progress was not a great sign. It was clear to both sides that they would not be able to come to an agreement so easily.

Ves tiredly waved his hand. "I suggest we let our negotiation teams hash out the terms of any possible agreement. We are mech designers, not snake oil salesmen. I would rather spend time on exploring how we can approach the base model of the line of law enforcement mechs that you wish to develop with me. Can you show me a draft or concept of your work?"

This was a rather delicate request. A draft design revealed much about the plans and intentions of its creator.

If Ves learned what Professor Taigen wanted to develop in advance, the Larkinsons could design a similar mech with all of the typical traits of Larkinson products!

The Senior did not hesitate at all, though. He believed in the credibility of Ves and the Larkinsons. Their talks so far may not have advanced their negotiations as much as he wanted to, but it served as an excellent way for them to grow more familiar with each other.

A new projection appeared that displayed a typical law enforcement mech.

Just like every second-class mech built for peacekeeping duties, the machine possessed a flight system optimized for moving in the air under standard terrestrial conditions.

Ves noted that the draft design looked a little lighter and smaller than the law enforcement mechs he usually encountered. It did not look as if the machine was sturdy and massive enough to withstand serious and repeated hits.

However, a mech with this configuration undoubtedly possessed superior mobility compared to many other medium mechs. It was a good mech for chasing and reaching distant crisis zones in a timely manner.

"What I am showing to you is what we call a first responder mech in our sector." Professor Taigen explained. "It is a subcategory of law enforcement mechs that is meant to arrive first onto a scene. Their purpose is to address any ongoing incidents as quickly as possible. Oftentimes, the arrival of a pair of Planetary Guard mechs is enough to deter any rogue mechs from continuing to fight and inflict damage to the environment."

It was hard for criminals to go about their business when policing units arrived in front of them! The presence of any Planetary Guard mech was a powerful deterrent that could stop incidents from escalating and stop people from continuing to endanger nearby inhabitants.

However, not every troublemaker could be subdued by the arrival of a couple of mechs.

"There are times when first responder mechs cannot suppress an unfolding conflict. Their light construction and loadouts enable them to arrive first onto the scene, but their deterrence is not as great as the more well-equipped law enforcement mech models. This is where I believe your glows can be of use. By pairing the Pacifier concept with your design solution, it can influence those who are endangering themselves and others to regain control over themselves. Even if the glows are only partially effective, they can still lower the temperature of an ongoing fight and buy more time for reinforcements."

Ves understood the logic of this mech concept. It was indeed a good combination. What mattered the most was to spread Lufa's glow at a dangerous location as quickly as possible.

Whether the incident involved a firefight between mobs on foot or a dangerous duel between two reckless mechs, these were all situations where Lufa's influence could play a useful role!

"Why not pair my glow with a heavier law enforcement mech?" Ves asked.

"It is not necessary. The Pacifier Project can already cover this need. If the situation has devolved to a point where the Planetary Guard must display a more forceful response, then the reinforcements must consist of mechs that are designed to end fights instead of preventing them from happening in the first place. This is a crucial difference. Regardless, the Pacifier Project can still be of use in any incident where forceful intervention is required. Only one is enough to make a difference."

"That makes sense." Ves responded even as he suspected there was more to the story than Professor Taigen was willing to reveal.

Planetary Guard organizations usually bought into an interconnected mech ecosystem when they chose to purchase the products of a specific mech company.

They did not just buy a batch of mechs based on a single model. Instead, they bought a bunch of different variants and also other mechs based on different but related models.

Such mech ecosystems granted a lot of convenience for their owners because it was a lot cheaper and more convenient to service, maintain and replace the different mechs.

This was where Voiken Industries could earn a lot of extra revenue!

Ves figured it all out. The Pacifier Project was the only product that the Voikens needed in their catalog to lure law enforcement agencies to buy into their system.

Once the different peacekeeping organizations had ordered large batches of this living mech, then they would plunge into a situation where they were incentivized to follow up on their initial orders by buying other Voiken offerings!

This was where Voiken Industries earned the big bucks. Unlike the Pacifier Project which only needed to be fairly light and fast in order to respond to unfolding incidents quickly, the bigger and heavier law enforcement mech models had to be powerful enough to subdue rampaging mech or protect a lot of vulnerable civilians.

The latter kinds of mechs were bound to be more expensive, which also meant that their profit margins should be much higher!

Ves became even less inclined to conclude a business deal right away.

If he recklessly negotiated a deal, then he would essentially fall into a scam where the LMC would only earn a meager amount of profit from the sales of a cheap and low-margin product.

Meanwhile, Voiken Industries which offered a wide variety of different law enforcement solutions could easily persuade its existing customers to make follow-up orders!

In short, the biggest players on the mech market were no longer in the business of selling individual mech models.

They focused on passing on their entire mech ecosystems onto their customers in order to ensure they remained locked on a long-term basis!

It was much harder to switch from an entire ecosystem of interconnected products than to replace a single isolated mech model!

As Professor Taigen continued to explain the outline of his Pacifier concept, Ves eventually held up his hand.

"This collaboration proposal is a promising start, but I don't hear enough sincerity from you." He said. "You have said nothing about expanding our partnership to the rest of your mech ecosystem that you offer to your clients. Do you think I am ignorant about all of the extra business the Pacifier Project can bring to Voiken Industries?"

The Senior of the Voiken Family finally frowned for the first time during this meeting.

"It is not impossible for us to collaborate again in the future, but we need to see whether our initial attempt is successful enough to prove that further cooperation is worthwhile enough. Despite your reassurances, we must always be careful before we make further commitments. It is impossible for us to agree to a collaboration involving multiple different mech designs."

Ves grimaced. "I don't want my clan to get taken advantage of. Either you agree to expand our business partnership to encompass an entire mech ecosystem or I will turn to another, more willing mech company to develop an innovative new mech ecosystem for the law enforcement sector."

This was a heavy demand! Ves did not expect Professor Taigen to concede right away. It was enough to show a sufficiently strong and demanding stance for today. The negotiators could do the rest.

"A cooperation to this degree exceeds the scope of my authority." Professor Taigen steadily replied. "I will have to discuss this matter with Master Barnard Voiken."

"You do that, then." Ves smirked. "Our clan can wait for his response. However, I cannot guarantee you that we may enter into a more favorable agreement with one of your competitors in the Red Ocean."

He did not actually intend to reach out to other mech companies. Professor Taigen was right in that it was probably difficult to form a deep and extensive business partnership with a competitor with no prior relationships or connections.

Still, Ves could instruct Minister Shederin Purnesse to go through the motions and reach out to a couple of companies. This would show that the Larkinsons might actually be looking for an alternative collaboration partner.

If Professor Taigen Voiken wanted to achieve his goal of quickly establishing Voiken Industries in the Red Ocean's mech market, then it was up to him and his fellow Voikens to entice the Larkinsons with an attractive offer!

The call ended quickly after that. Neither of them had anything more to talk about if they weren't willing to make any further concessions at this time.

Ves let out a deep breath as the projections disappeared. He turned towards his wife.

"What do you think?"

"You represented our clan and mech company well this time." Gloriana said with genuine respect in her eyes. "You did not allow the Voiken Family to take advantage of us. It was quite astute of you to recognize that the actual business lies in the mech ecosystems rather than individual mech models. Always remember that it is the Voikens who want our cooperation, not the other way around. I am sure that Professor Taigen will call you once again."

"Those are my thoughts as well." He said before turning to Sara and Dulo Voiken. "What do you think? Do you think it is right to demand more sincerity from your former family?"

Both of them looked awkward. Neither Sara nor Dulo looked eager to get involved in this negotiation.

However, they had recently pledged their loyalty to the Larkinson Clan, so they had an obligation to take Ves' side.

Dulo Voiken eventually voiced his opinion.

"I believe that you are not wrong for asking for a fairer share of all of the earnings of this business opportunity, but… Master Barnard and Professor Taigen are not known to concede that easily. They are even less reluctant to accept huge business deals that involve many related mech lines. It is too risky to build up a dependence of an entire mech ecosystem to the contributions of a single external mech designer. Your leverage over Voiken Industries would become monstrous if you control the most valuable selling points of all of those law enforcement mech models!"