The Mech Touch

A gloved hand patted the armored leg of Ves' Unending Regalia.

"Papa?"

Ves looked down and smiled at his second daughter. She was just too cute! Her suited figure along with her big head reminded him of an exquisite doll.

"What's the matter, dear?"

"Lucky is sad, papa. He wants to go down."

As if that wasn't enough of a message, the gem cat himself floated next to Andraste and made a begging motion with his paws.

"Meeeow. Meeeow. Meeeow."

"Really now." Ves felt the urge to palm his face. "Do you know how unsafe it is to travel to a planet that is owned by a hostile state, you forgetful cat? Have you forgotten how long we were trapped on the surface of Prosperous Hill IV? Look, I'm in the same boat as you. I also want to snoop around in a big city like Ardam and see whether I can dig out a few treasures, but the risks aren't proportionate to the rewards. Do you really think the Gauge Dynasty is stupid enough to leave behind high-grade exotics and other exceptionally valuable materials?"

Though the Gaugers had been forced to leave behind a lot useful materials and goods behind due to lack of time and transportation capacity, they weren't stupid. The strategic reserves had been one of the first vaults to get emptied during the evacuation effort that preceded the battle in orbit!

The reports that the Larkinsons on the ground transmitted to the fleet indicated that a lot of warehouses and other storage places mostly contained low-to-medium value bulk materials.

Though all of these goods that were ordinarily used to make incredibly useful products such as mechs, starships and structures could be worth millions of MTA credits, the only way to actually profit from them was to bring it all back to a place where they could fence their stolen goods.

The Hex Federation was the nearest state where the Larkinsons could expect to get a good deal out of selling all of this loot.

The problem was hauling it out of the Friday Colonies! Just as the Fridayman lacked the cargo vessels to take away all of their valuable materials, the invading forces possessed even less capacity!

It really wasn't worthwhile to bring out all the bulk materials that Pima Prime had in storage. Whenever the Larkinsons encountered a warehouse filled with bulk materials, they simply passed the location over and went on to search for more worthwhile goods to plunder.

Considering the quality of Lucky's diet nowadays, Ves truly didn't think that his cat would be able to find anything good enough for him to eat. Why bother taking a risk when he could just lie down and eat his regular bowl of exotics?

"Meeeow!"

Lucky did not show any sign of backing down, however! The cat kept squirming and begging to go down for a visit!

"Pleeeease, papa?"

Perhaps Lucky alone wasn't strong enough to persuade Ves to change his mind, but the addition of his youngest daughter caused him to hesitate.

Andraste turned and grasped Lucky in her arms. Their relationship had grown quite close over the years.

It took a few more minutes for Ves to let out a sigh.

"Fine. I suppose Lucky is capable enough to take care of himself on the surface." He said while directing a warning gaze towards the gem cat. "You can board a shuttle or transport that is heading down to Ardam. You can roam around wherever you like and eat whatever exotics strikes your fancy, but I expect you to do your duty while you are in the field. If you happen to find a secret stash of exotics or other items of value, please notify our clan so that we can pick it all up. I will reward you with additional high-grade exotics in your daily meals if you happen to stumble upon an experimental device or the like. Do you understand?"

"Meow!"

"Don't forget that our schedule is tight. Though the intelligence suggests that the Fridaymen have been slower to send out rescue troops to this star system, that doesn't mean we'll be extending our stay. I expect you to return within 12 hours. If you're late, then our fleet will depart with or without you on our ship. Have I made myself clear?"

"Meeeow!"

"Papa! Don't be mean to Lucky!"

Ves sneered. "Andraste, if you want our cat to come back in time, then you better persuade him to keep track of time. Who knows how long he will stay if he doesn't get the message."

A half-ruined planet that belonged to a hostile state probably looked like paradise to Lucky!

There were so many materials that Lucky sneakily ingested without attracting too much attention because the Fridaymen were too preoccupied with other crises to track these kinds of losses.

It would take months if not years for the Gauge Dynasty to rebuild the planet and get everything back in order.

Even then Lucky had plenty of ways to keep stealing valuable exotics under everyone's noses.

The Fridaymen were all enemies so the cat had no reason to feel guilty about stealing their possessions.

The chances of getting caught were also small as long as the locals never found out about his presence.

Lucky hadn't been lazing around all of these years!

Years of eating a luxurious diet of high-quality exotics had slowly but steadily increased his capabilities. His speed, toughness, energy reserves as well as phasing capabilities had all improved by varying degrees.

His only significant shortcoming was that he wasn't able to cloak his body, but Ves already prepared a solution for this problem.

"I almost forgot, Lucky. Before you enter your shuttle, be sure to equip your Misfortune Harness."

"Meow!"

"I know it makes you feel confined, but it's for your own good!"

Andraste and Clixie decided to accompany Lucky during his trip to the hangar bay.

Along the way, Lucky visited an armory where he changed into the body-covering suit of armor that Ves had occasionally worked on in the past 5 years.

Lucky looked completely different once donned his high-tech cat armor!

The Mark V edition of the Misfortune Harness was a bit slimmer and much more refined than the previous versions.

It not only incorporated a more expensive active stealth system, but also integrated miniature modules that could perform a lot of auxiliary functions such as scanning, data storage, decryption and hacking.

In other words, Lucky transformed into a larger but still fairly sleek spy cat once he donned his black outfit!

Little Andraste had never seen him in this special outfit before. Her eyes quickly grew into stars as she admired the way that Lucky resembled a black cat!

"You're so cool, Lucky! I want to go down with you as well."

"Meow!"

"Miaow!"

There was no way the two cats would agree to that! It was one thing for a powerful cat to travel to a danger zone, but a toddler had no business strolling around in a burning city!

At least Andraste was able to accompany the cats down to the hangar bay where a shuttle was being prepped to descend from orbit in order to pick up another batch of valuable cargo.

Andraste hugged the black-clad cat as if she was saying farewell to her favorite toy.

"Have fun down there. Be sure to pick up a gift for me before you go back!"

"Meow~"

Clixie also came closer in order to lick Lucky's cheek and wish him good luck.

"Miaow~"

Lucky finally entered the shuttle which steadily exited the hangar bay and initiated its descent to the surface.

The shuttles employed by the Larkinson Clan nowadays were upscale models that possessed greater speed, larger cargo holds and greater protection against attacks.

Even if it was a bit risky for shuttles to be flying in the vicinity of cities such as Ardam, the escorting made sure that none of them would get shot down over the course of their flight.

A large quantity of mechs and shuttles had initially attempted to shoot down the combat carriers and other vehicles that entered the airspace, but the Hexers and the Golden Skullers quickly took care of these threats.

The local Fridaymen were much more honest by this time. They had either lost their capabilities to resist or were far too busy with fighting against the troops on the ground to bother with shooting down targets from the skies.

In order to keep track of Lucky's movements and help coordinate his actions with other friendly units, the Larkinson Clan tasked a Black Cat operative to accompany the cat.

The woman activated a projection that displayed a real-time map of Ardam.

The map accurately depicted the capital city's dire state, including the numerous districts that had become engulfed in flames or bombed to oblivion.

"Where would you like to explore first?" The woman asked. "I don't recommend you explore the industrial districts. Many of them have already been ransacked or explored already. The academic districts might be of interest to you. There are many labs and workshops that might contain hidden surprises that our initial scans failed to detect the first time."

Under normal circumstances, the chance of encountering high-end goods and materials was definitely the greatest in these areas, but that had changed once Pima Prime got attacked.

Lucky shook his head and pointed his paw at one of the more central districts.

"Oh? You want to visit the richest district instead? This is where the most successful administrators, businessmen and military officers reside. It is unlikely for the residents to forget about taking away sensitive and valuable goods, but perhaps they may have been too hasty to pack up their important possessions. It's a good choice for you to explore these sites if the Hexers have already gone through this place."

"Meow meow."

Lucky insisted on exploring the mansion-filled district despite the fact that several Hexer mech units had barged into the area and attacked almost every fancy estate out of spite!

The shuttle eventually touched down in the outskirts of Ardam. The pilot did not dare to land anywhere closer, but the Black Cat operative took out a hoverbike and hopped onto the seat.

"Let's go, Lucky."

"Meow!" The cat jumped up and settled onto a special seat that was designed to fit his exact dimension.

The slender but powerful vehicle quietly floated up in the air and sped up towards the center of the city.

Along the way, the vehicle changed shape and activated a cloaking system that turned it invisible.

No one disturbed the stealth bike as it silently made its way to its destination. There was so much fighting going on that the locals had much better things to do than looking out for stealthed vehicles.

The abundance of emissions in the air also made it a lot more difficult to detect anomalies passing through the skies.

The stealthed bike soon reached the center of the wealthiest and most luxurious districts of Ardam.

The Black Cat continued to keep her vehicle under stealth and emerged while activating the stealth system of her infiltrator suit to keep herself as undetectable as possible.

The gem cat landed on the ground and began to sniff around for anything interesting.

"Did you find anything, Lucky?" The operative asked over a short-ranged communication channel. "I specifically chose to touch down on this location because the surrounding estates are all owned by the direct descendants of the Gauge Dynasty. If there are any places where you can find hidden vaults, these homes are the most likely candidates."

Perhaps she was right, because Lucky soon caught an interesting scent!

"Meow!"

The cat didn't bother to explain any further and activated his phasing ability before diving into the ground!

The Larkinson intelligence agent sighed but did not express any frustration. She had already been informed of Lucky's habits and antics.

"I hope you can find useful intelligence for us. There has to be more we can obtain from this planet."