The Mech Touch

A virtual member card hovered in front of Ves just after he activated a jamming field. The card looked almost identical to the invitation card that Ves won from the Church of Haatumak years ago. He remembered the competition where he competed against Mayra, Ketis' mentor. Even though he lost, he still proved himself worthy to receive the card.

Of course, Ves had no good feelings for the weird and abnormal cult. Their strange powers and ability to make themselves undetectable through spiritual means almost caused the downfall of Lydia's Swordmaidens and the Flagrant Vandals!

Afterwards, he always intended to make use of the invitation card to get initiated in the so-called Angel's Wing Foundation, yet he never found the time to make an excursion.

The virtual invitation card not only acted as a means of entry, but also transmitted the moving coordinates where the powerful black market organization gathered.

According to several sources, the Angel's Wing Foundation was one of the biggest and most expansive black market organizations in the galactic rim.

In order to avoid stepping too much on the toes of other competitors, the AWF almost exclusively dealt in biotech-related goods and services.

It might not be the best place to obtain the best illicit mechs or hire the best assassins, but when it came to purchasing extremely valuable exobeasts and bioimplants, there was no other underground marketplace that could compare!

"It took us a long time to reach the site where the Angel's Wing Foundation opened for business." Commander Cinnabar calmly explained. "The organization set its gathering point in the frontier, which forced us to cross into unregulated space."

"What?! Did you enter sandman territory?!"

"Rest assured, we didn't encounter too many sandmen. The AWF set up shop well outside the sphere of influence of the sandmen. Aside from some sporadic sandman fleets that went astray, the space we traveled through was fairly safe."

Since nothing went wrong during the round trip, Ves put down his worries and instead focused on the gains.

"What did you accomplish while you were at their place?"

"We encountered a large fleet, including a capital ship that served as their main trading hub. The experience was.. Incredible. The Angel's Wing Foundation is truly powerful enough to be able extend their reach throughout the entire galactic rim."

Commander Cinnabar explained the procedures he went through. The invitation card wasn't locked to Ves' identity, so the mercenary commander managed to become a registered member without any problem.

Rather than risking his own life and reputation, Ves was fine with allowing his Kinner cash in the invitation card. If he needed anything from the AWF, then he could just dispatch Commander Cinnabar in his stead!

"So what's it like to be a member?"

"It's not that special, sir. Inside the massive trading ship are countless rare and lucrative trading opportunities. Every member who enters dons a cloak or employs other means of obscuring their identities, so no one knows anyone there. It would have taken too much time for us to explore them all, so we placed all of our efforts into obtaining the items on your list."

Ves leaned forward. "Did you..?"

"I'm sorry to say we only obtained some samples of just one item on your list. The trading vessel only offers scattered trading opportunities for exotics. They're mostly offered by members and clients who are in urgent need to raise hard currency to purchase or bid on the biotech goods they want."

Just like any other true black market organization, the AWF did not accept or deal with regular currencies such as bright credits or coalition credits. Instead, the use of Kavenit coins and other forms of bartering governed most transactions.

When Commander Cinnabar passed on the list to Ves, he erupted into a smile!

This was because the Battle Criers obtained one of the materials he needed the most!

"Thirteen P-Stones!"

Though the P-stone was one of the most basic spiritually-reactive materials he discovered, its uses were myriad! He could use them as spiritual energy batteries to capture his excess output or he could use them as makeshift containers for spiritual entities.

Yet that only scratched the surface of their possible uses! He suspected that he could employ the P-stones to other ends. If one of his hypotheses were correct, then perhaps the P-stone was an essential component in making permanent spiritual matter!

With thirteen chunks of minerals that Commander Cinnabar tentatively identified as P-stones, Ves did not have to be so stingy with their use! Though Ves still planned to stash most of them in his vault, he could afford to experiment with a handful of them without feeling pained over their loss!

"Make sure to move all of the P-stones in my vault. They're very precious and I don't want anyone else to touch them, including my own girlfriend." Ves commanded.

"We'll take care of it, sir."

"Now what are your other gains?"

"After we departed from the AWF, we attempted to search the people on your bounty list. It was.. difficult. While the Sand War allowed us to move anywhere without attracting too much attention by blending in with the refugee ships, the lack of tracking makes it almost impossible to locate specific people!"

"How did you solve this problem?"

The red-haired mercenary commander smiled. "We employed the use of an underground intelligence broker. We had to go through a significant amount of our remaining budget to obtain the coordinates of some of your targets."

"Who did you get?"

Cinnabar passed him another data pad.

The pad only contained a single list, which Ves silently read.

'Ronnie Blast'

'Merril Truman'

'The Alloy Sculptor'

'The Hand of Sin'

'Timothy Moriarty'

The moment his eyes spotted the first name, they grew red.

Of all the people on the list, Ves hated the first one the most!

After all of those years, this pirate designer finally fell into his hands!

"Hahahaha!" Ves erupted into laughter. "I bet you never expected me to nab you! I can finally repay the indignity you've subjected to me! I can't stand almost getting killed by my own design!"

His fury became especially heated when he recalled he'd been threatened by a plagiarized version of his own work!

If someone wanted to kill him using his own designs, then they better use his authentic works! This was what his professionalism demanded!

"Good! Keep the prisoners secured somewhere secret. Don't let anyone else find out!"

"We have the prisoners secured in the brig of the Ion Tracker for the time being, sir. Since we've parked our ship in orbit of Kesseling VIII, no one ought to be able to enter our ship without permission."

"Make sure to guard against infiltrators and other hidden troublemakers. I'm way too high profile these days. My reputation with the Ylvainans has reached an insane height, but that also means that lots of people will desperately want to investigate me. We can't rule out the possibility that someone will want to sneak onto your ships since you work directly for me. Remain alert and stay cautious. Don't let the friendly attitude of the Ylvainans fool you into letting down your guard."

As a Kinner bondsman, Commander Cinnabar was programmed to obey any instruction. He took Ves' orders seriously.

The Battle Criers made some other gains during their time away, but Ves didn't care about them anymore. After discussing everything else the Kinners encountered during their travels, Ves issued some new orders.

"For now, I want your Battle Criers to remain close and act in coordination with the Avatars and Sentinels to guard my life and property. Since we are in unfamiliar territory, we can't take anything for granted, and the sandmen are still a threat."

"Understood."

"Aside from that, I'd also like you to take over control of the Scarlet Rose. This is an extremely important second-class ship for multiple reasons. I want you to pick out your most trustworthy ship crew and take control of the vessel. After that, I want you to coordinate with Michael Crindon in overhauling the ship. There is probably an orbital drydock in the Kesseling System that we can hire to perform the necessary repairs and renovations. I'll tell Crindon to cordon off the mech workshop and some other compartments. I have something special in mind for those sections."

"Crewing your new ship will be a problem." Commander Cinnabar warned. "I'm not a naval expert, but second-class vessels are a lot more difficult to operate."

"You can seek help from the crew of the Barracuda. Captain Silvestra and her subordinates have extensive experience in operating a Fridayman vessel. I believe their insights will be exceptionally useful. The only reason why I didn't reassign them to the Scarlet Rose is because I don't want anyone but Kinner bondsmen on my new personal ship."

The mercenary commander studied the projection of the Scarlet Rose and shook his head. "We can do that, but that means pulling essential crew away from our existing vessels. If the Scarlet Rose is as complex as she appears to be, then I can only draw from my best and most senior spacers. That will leave my Ion Tracker and other vessels shorthanded of competent officers and crew."

"Bear with it for now." Ves commanded. "If possible, I'd like you to expand the Battle Criers by supplementing it with more Kinner bondsmen. Is there a way to buy more Kinners without traveling all the way to the Kinner Tribe?"

If he had to travel to the Kinner Tribe, then he would have to cross through the entire length of the Friday Coalition! That was not only a massive waste of time, but also an extremely perilous journey!

Of course, he could always take a lengthy detour, but such a trip would probably take at least half a year!

Fortunately, the Kinners weren't as unreasonable as he feared.

"Ordinary customers of the Kinner Tribe aren't allowed to buyout our Kinners remotely." Cinnabar explained. "This is because the parties buying our Kinners may not be as trustworthy as they advertised, or withheld crucial information. This is one of the main reasons our Kinner Tribe highly values face-to-face meetings. Any Kinner bondsmen bought remotely will be facing a difficult dilemma if their new owners turn out to be different from that they expected."

Ves understood the nature of this problem. He had no doubt that the Kinner Tribe had been burned many times in the past. Even if the Kinner bondsmen were allowed to break away from a partner who transacted with their tribe in bad faith, the reputation of the Kinners would still take a substantial hit!

In order to avoid such regrettable reversals, the Kinners paid careful attention to the people who wanted to buy a permanent Kinner bondsman. Either a client or a trusted representative had to visit the tribe in person in order to buy the coveted human products offered by the tribe!

However, once some level of trust had been established, the Kinners were much more accommodating to existing clients.

"Normally, you aren't eligible for this service, but you're a special case." Cinnabar pointed out. "As the famous Ves Larkinson who designed the two greatest mechs of the Sand War, your reputation and fame has skyrocketed. Our Kinner Tribe is always interested in maintaining relationships with notable people. I'll have to contact the tribe to be sure, but I can virtually guarantee you that it's no problem to order more Kinners."

"Good." Ves nodded as if he half-expected this response. "I'll inform Benny to release the needed funds to expand the Battle Criers and secure more crew. Is it possible to triple your numbers?"

The mercenary commander grimaced. "I would not advise that, sir. Even though we share much in common with other Kinners, the Battle Criers are still distinct. Expanding too quickly will dilute our martial tradition. I suggest doubling our number of mech pilots and other crew at most. While this expansion will still put us under strain, I'm confident we can integrate the new Kinners in our outfit over time."

"Acceptable. Make sure you hire the best you can obtain. I'm not lacking for funds these days."

After discussing some of the details, both of them came to an agreement on how to expand the Battle Criers. This small former mercenary corps needed to expand and grow in strength in order to keep up with Ves' growing ambitions!