The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1367

The Barracuda escorted by the ships of the Battle Criers exited the Paisley System without any further fanfare.

The Dustravens had been left behind as Ves no longer required their services. While the local mercs assisted the visitors with getting access to planets, they did not possess any substantial spaceborn forces.

"I don’t quite trust them either." Ves murmured.

He always had the feeling that the Dustravens kept the Bloodweller faction informed of everything he did. It wouldn’t have bothered Ves if not for the recent assassination attempt.

Though anyone could have been responsible for putting out a hit on him, the fact that it might be a local influence meant the Bloodwellers couldn’t be ruled out. No matter how much the Dustravens acted honestly, their back influence continually aroused suspicion.

Ves sat behind his desk in his stateroom as he studied the regional star chart. The fleet had been meandering through the Redwell Province for a while now. The distance to Chuko’s border with the Hinson Protectorate was only a short distance away.

Once they crossed over into Hinson, Ves hoped he no longer had to watch his back against the murky factions that continued muck about in Chuko. The state was so unstable that he couldn’t even count all of the factions and organizations treating it as their communal playground.

Nitaa still felt sour at letting off the people who plotted for Ves’ life. His bodyguard understood the logic of making a swift exit, but her immensely high opinion of the Holy Son made her unable to stomach such a meek course of action.

As Ves thought of a way to soothe Nitaa further, someone requested entry into his stateroom.

"Come in."

The hatch automatically slid open, revealing Michael Crindon. The Kinner bondsman had been spending his time continuously aboard the Barracuda in order to tear apart the most egregious backdoors.

Even though months had passed since he started his work, Crindon was nowhere done with the momentous task! Modern starships were simply too connected and almost every point was being monitored by several sensors!

"How’s your progress lately?"

Crindon shook his head. "There are limits to what we can do by hand, sir. I’ve finished sweeping over this stateroom and the surrounding compartments, but there are many essential sensors that are part of the core functioning of the vessel that I haven’t touched. Without a thorough revamp of this ship, she will always be riddled with vulnerabilities."

"At least there are less of them than before, right?"

"Right. All of the work I’ve performed hasn’t been in vain. Your vessel is more secure and much less susceptible to hacking or undue tampering. The ship was already hard to access, but the measures I’ve taken means that even those with backdoors should encounter some hindrances."

"It’s not enough, right?"

"If you want to obtain a truly secure vessel, then you should commission one that lacks all of the interconnectedness and conveniences of modern starships."

"Do these ships actually exist?"

"They do, but I don’t recommend you procure them. They’re less responsive and much more dependent on their crews as almost every system is put under manual control. Aside from their resistance against hacking and electronic tampering, they perform much worse in almost every other aspect."

Ves looked disappointed. "Oh. I can see how that can be a problem."

Such vessels merely shifted control away from automated systems to human control. This meant that a single bad actor among the crew could do a significant amount of damage by abusing their control over critical systems!

"It’ll be much better once we reach the drydock we’ve reserved at the Sentinel Kingdom. Due to their proximity and frequent interactions with the Nyxian Gap, they have become very good at developing resilient ships that can withstand anything the Nyxian pirates throw at them. The CFA is also very present in Sentinel."

The level of naval engineering at the Sentinel Kingdom was some of the best among third-rate states in the star sector. The Nyxian Gap consisted of so many hazardous and anomalous regions of space that regular starships generally fared very poorly in the region.

Ships had to be modified to endure the rigors of travel in a seemingly endless expanse of asteroids. It helped if the helmsmen also possessed an abundant amount of experience.

If neither of these conditions held true, then even an agile ship like the Barracuda could easily smash herself against an asteroid!

"After we arrive at the Sentinel Kingdom, I’ll start taking you with me during my excursions." Ves spoke, moving on to another topic. "Although your work has been valuable up here, I need a virtual security expert by my side. Nitaa and Commander Cinnabar can’t hack."

Crindon did not show a lot of confidence. "While I’ve shored up my hacking skills lately, I am still better at protecting systems than intruding upon them. My combat abilities aren’t on par of that of Nitaa."

"I don’t expect you to fight on a physical battlefield. Your place lies on the virtual battlefield. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Crindon reluctantly replied. "I can serve you better if you let me move independently."

"I’ll think about it, but for now I want you to be a part of my entourage."

Ves was gathering quite the number of staff who followed him around. For a long time, he made do with Lucky and Gavin.

Now, the addition of Nitaa had already paid off by helping him foil a possible assassination attempt.

If Crindon had been on the ground with them at the time, they might have been able to recover some data from the quickly-deteriorating databanks at the time.

After a brief chat, Ves dismissed his Kinner bondsman and enjoyed some time alone. He made a grab for Lucky, only for the cat to jump and float in the air.

"Meow!"

"Oh, come on!"

Lucky denied the comfort Ves wanted as revenge for the times the cat got tossed in the air.

As his cat departed the compartment by phasing through the deck, Ves rapped his fingers against his desk. Now that his visit to the Chuko Republic came to an end, he wanted to sum up his gains.

Out of the various professional exchanges he conducted, he yielded remarkably less than he expected. A lot more mech designers turned out to be miserly, which meant that Ves wasted the majority of his visits.

Though he could have probably employed some coercion in order to get the stubborn mech designers to open up, that defeated the spirit of exchanges.