The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1345

Ves and his staff entered the base owned by an outfit called the Vindar Dustravens. They were different from many other outfits in that they exclusively fielded aerial mechs.

When times were good, their services were in high demand. Yet when the Chuko Republic’s economy continued to tumble downwards, the Dustravens found themselves with very little jobs.

According to Commande Cinnabar, in order for them to keep paying the bills, they began to cooperate with the shadier organizations in Vindar.

Commander Inteo Meivin of the Dustravens greeted the commander of the Battle Criers with a hearty hug.

"Hugin! It’s been almost half a decade!"

"Hahaha!" Cinnabar laughed as they let go of each other. "You look older than before! Times sure have changed."

"And not for the better." Commander Meivin commented. "Let’s leave the unpleasant topics for later. Mr. Larkinson, welcome to Vindar VII. Although I can’t promise your stay will be pleasant, as long as we are around, we’ll do our best to make you feel secure."

Ves smiled at Meivin. "I’ll take your word for that. What I’ve seen so far of this planet doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence."

"Let’s discuss the contract further in my office. I’ve already prepared the arrangements beforehand."

Once they entered the administrative building of the Dustravens, Ves and Meivin quickly hashed out a limited agreement. The Dustravens would escort and accompany Ves during his entire stay in the Redwell Province.

"Are you confident you’ll be able to protect us outside of the Vindar System?" Ves curiously questioned.

"Our mechs might not look like much, but we have many ties to many different organizations." Commander Meivin confidently replied. "We Redwellers have to stick together, you see. If every Redweller has to fend for themselves, then our province will quickly cease to be a part of the Chuko Republic."

Ves took that to mean that Commander Meivin was inclined towards the Bloodweller side.

"Alright. Commander Cinnabar is confident in your capabilities, so I’ll take your word for it. I better hope your ties are as extensive as you’ve boasted."

It wasn’t as if Ves could determine the truth. This kind of information wasn’t mentioned in any public records. Even if Ves approached another mercenary corps, he would just face the same problem anyway. He might as well give the Dustravens a chance.

Ves left the subsequent details to Gavin. As the contract was being finalized, Ves started to pump Commander Meivin for information.

"How is the overall level of security on Vindar VII?"

"It’s been better, Mr. Larkinson. Since Vindar is not a border system, we aren’t plagued by frequent fighting. While violent incidents do occur from time to time, they’re mostly scuffles at the infantry level."

"Oh? What about mech-on-mech violence?"

"That happens surprisingly little here. Outfits like us are already struggling to make ends meet with our existing roster of mechs. Replacing them when they get wrecked can get extremely expensive, so everyone with mechs will have to think twice before they risk them in battle."

That was a welcome piece of news for Ves. He did not fear any threats on the infantry level. It was only mechs that posed a significant threat to him. Shield generator or not, it wouldn’t protect him for long if a mech kept stomping its feet into his body!

"What do you know about Terrence Reedan?" Ves asked.

"Old Man Terrence? He’s the only remaining Journeyman Mech Designer in Vindar. He’s getting on in his years. As far as I know, his business is all but dead and he’s done nothing against it. Everyone knows the old man has given up on his life. He has no wife and no kids and his standing in the mech industry isn’t very high."

According to the information that Ves had found, Terrence Reedan had turned out to be a mediocre Journeyman. He advanced rather late in his life and barely improved afterwards.

This signified that Old Man Terrence hadn’t made any significant progress towards Senior. Considering the older man’s Class VIII design philosophy, Ves wasn’t surprised.

According to the limited record that Ves managed to access from the MTA’s database, Terrence Reedan’s specialty dealt with neural interfaces. The exact details escaped him as research into neural interfaces was a very sensitive subject matter in the mech community.

Ves spotted an opportunity ever since he came across Terrence Reedan’s situation. This man was a potential goldmine of knowledge about neural interface technology.

Just like Iris Jupiter and the Jupiter Family of the Vesia Kingdom, Terrence Reedan was one of the few mech designers who received permission from the MTA to research neural interfaces!

From his own haphazard experiments with neural interfaces, Ves knew first-hand how thorny it was to connect the mind of a human to a machine.

Yet Ves couldn’t stop his fascination for this field. The man-machine connection played a central role to his design philosophy, so the limited amount of knowledge he accumulated from various sources would eventually hamper him from developing better mechs.

"Has Terrence received any visitors over the years?"

"Not as far as I know. Reedan Mech Industries has already downscaled its production a long time ago, so hardly any business had come his way. I’ve heard that other mech designers haven’t bothered to maintain their relationships with him either."

Ves understood why. The man was already old and had no hopes of advancing to Senior and thereby earn enough money for the first round of life-prolonging treatment.

In addition, domestic mech designers didn’t have much interest in making use of customized neural interfaces during this period of decline. It was much safer and cheaper to incorporate the standard neural interface models that the MTA provided to every mech designer for free.

Only an oddball like Ves would still think to approach a mech designer who specialized in this controversial and problematic field.

As Ves and Commander Meivin continued to chat, the contract finally took shape. After both of them signed it, the Dustravens were officially under the employ of Ves for a maximum of two months or until Ves departed from the Redwell Province.

They shook hands.

"You’ve made the right choice, Mr. Larkinson."