The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1432

Ves smiled as the fleet emerged on the outer edge of the Cinach System. Just as he expected, the star system hosted a boisterous amount of traffic as thousands of trade vessels and passenger ships.

One of the strengths of the Cinach System was that it held a large number of planets and moons. All of this real estate enriched the ruling noble houses and attracted even greater amounts of trade.

The Cinach System hosted three notable planets.

Cinach VI under the control of House Evenson hosted a large number of mech companies. While the other planets in the system produced mechs as well, Cinach VI worked hard to become the premier destination to anything related to mechs.

Cinach VIII under the rule of House Gin Tefa excelled in education and research. It hosted a large number of universities and research institutions that produced and employed a large number of highly-educated people. Many of these universities ranked in the top of their respective fields in the Sentinel Kingdom!

Cinach XII may be the most distant planet from the local star, but it hosted lots of non-mech related industries. Most raw materials entering the Cinach System arrived at Cinach XI in order to go through extensive processing before they were being passed to the hungry industries elsewhere on the planet and in the system!

The latter planet also happened to feature an extensive orbital industry geared towards producing, repairing and modifying all kinds of starships!

The first priority that Ves wanted to address was to bring the Barracuda to one of the drydocks they booked. While the ships of the Battle Criers parked in the orbit of a moon, the Barracuda flew ahead and entered one of the massive structures orbiting Cinach XII.

As the corvette settled into the drydock, Ves called up Crindon and Captain Silvestra for a brief meeting.

\"Has the shipwright company agreed to perform the planned overhauls?\"

The captain nodded. \"Yes, sir. Nothing has changed despite the slight delay in our arrival. Aside from paying an additional fee, the work can still proceed.\"

\"After this, my vessel will be a lot more secure, right?\"

\"Relatively.\" Crindon noted with care. \"Jammers will still be necessary if you want to enjoy a moment of privacy. We’re essentially exchanging Fridayman ship components with Hexer ship components. You can bet that the Hexers will keep a very close eye on you through the backdoors they’ve implemented in their own parts. In addition, the CFA and MTA will always have access to the systems of your ship.\"

Ves groaned in exasperation. \"How do the pirates manage this problem, then?!\"

\"They’re smart enough to produce their own homegrown communication systems, sir. While not every pirate is as diligent, the more established and powerful pirate gangs all tear out the existing communication systems and replace them with versions developed by their own kind. Of course, it’s very probable that those communication systems come with backdoors as well. This is why belonging to a pirate alliance is so highly prized by their ilk. If they are to be subject to monitoring, then they would be watched by their own side!\"

That made sense. The Dragon Alliance and the Ravienne Alliance were the two premier pirate blocs in the Faris Star Region. A lot of pirates that Ves encountered in the frontier dreamed of becoming a part of those alliances. The backing they provided massively increased the chances of survival for the pirates who were lucky enough to shelter under a large umbrella!

\"I’m getting really tired of dealing with all of these backdoors all the time.\" Ves groaned again. \"When we get back to the Bright Republic, I think I’ll start developing and producing my own communication systems from the ground up. Do you think that’s viable?\"

Crindon immediately expressed some doubts. \"It’s a lot more complicated than you think. While it is easy enough to create a decent communication system, it’s the security issues that require the most attention. I can help on this front, but I’m not trained to program security suites from scratch.\"

\"You have a point. I guess I’ll have to consider this option further.\"

\"I think you’re heading in the right direction. Every large and wealthy organization develops their own communication systems. While this does not make them immune to hacking, they will at least be able to minimize their vulnerabilities against their own rivals.\"

However, Captain Silvestra added another caveat. \"You can’t replicate every communication system. Instantaneous communication across all of human space is an essential capability, but the Comm Consortium maintains a tight grip on the development and production of quantum entanglement nodes. This is one communication system that you can never reproduce!\"

That was also true. It was unthinkable for Ves to rip out the quantum entanglement node residing on the Barracuda. The best the upcoming overhaul could accomplish was replacing some of the external subcomponents produced by companies they trusted more.

Ves left Crindon and Captain Silvestra and the rest of the crew of the Barracuda to assist and supervise the extensive overhaul in the works.

All of the work being done required about two to three weeks to complete, which meant that Ves had plenty of time to fulfill his other goals in the meantime.

A week went by as Ves visited numerous Journeyman on Cinach VI. He got to see his new reputation at work as every mech designer he exchanged offered at least something substantial.

While none of these meetings prompted Ves to learn anything drastic that shifted his paradigms, he still picked up a few useful insights.

Every mech designer viewed mechs in a different light. Though Ves started to encounter a lot of overlap in the opinions expressed by the local mech designers, he nonetheless felt he gained something by broadening his perspective.

As he wrapped up his schedule of exchanges, Ves also briefly met with a Shadow Courier to obtain some of his long-awaited cargo in a seemingly-abandoned warehouse on Cinach VI.

\"Your package, Mr. Larkinson.\" The dark-robed woman spoke as she passed a secure box to Ves. \"Please inspect its contents.\" _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

Ves did so. As he opened up the box, he whipped up his Vulcaneye and scanned all of the key materials held within.

The sulomnium, beta-otricine and Flesha’s Tears he asked for were all present in the right quantities. Their quality also passed muster.

\"Everything is in order.\" He smiled as he stowed away his multiscanner and passed the box to Nitaa. \"Before you go, can I pass my own package through your network?\"