The Mech Touch novel Chapter 223

The Vintage Festival accepted his entry when he applied.

Properly speaking, Ves had to bring his show models to Bentheim before the deadline expired, but the person in charge of applications bent the rules for him. It only took a day or two until the next convoy shipped the models to Bentheim.

Ves left the arrangements of his booth to Marcella, who in turn delegated the job to her subordinates. These same people would also be staffing his booth and take care of his sales once the festival began.

"Their role in this event is to facilitate the sales process." Marcella explained over the comm. "While you don’t need to be present at all times, it will be helpful if you stick to your booth and explain your designs to anyone who shows any interest in purchasing a mech. Often times, a customer can be swayed to purchase your products if you present yourself as a reputable mech designer."

"Will you be there as well?"

"I’m not going to make it." Marcella shook her head. "I’m negotiating on behalf of another client on a major order. Sorry kid, but you’re still small-time as far as I’m concerned."

Fair enough. While Marcella earned a generous cut with her current contract, it didn’t amount to much in absolute terms. While he recently expanded the LMC’s production capabilities, it only sold a handful of Mark II’s a month, far below the standards of a typical medium-scale mech manufacturer.

After saying goodbye, Ves turned his attention back to his workshop. "I should prepare for an intensive round of fabrication."

His words betrayed the confidence he held in his Eternal series. Their craftsmanship surpassed anything that Ves had produced so far. When the three models stood side-by-side, their X-Factor emanated a formless pressure that threatened to engulf the entire storage space!

"I won’t believe my models will flop."

Ves gambled a lot on their success. Already, his company’s savings account diminished by a whopping 120 million credits. He had no other choice but to spend the money on the raw materials to fabricate the show models. If he couldn’t even manage to sell the original models, he’d be stuck with a couple of extremely expensive statues.

"All I can do now is wait."

The Festival started in a couple more weeks, leaving Ves plenty of time to get his company in order.

First, he optimized his new production line. His previous bout of fabrication exposed some flaws in his arrangements that could prove dangerous down the line. Ves nipped the latent problems in the bud and ensured that all of the machines worked properly.

By this time, their first shady orders had arrived. Dietrich arranged for some nondescript companies with boring names such as Ellis and Johnson Security or Armature Inc. to place some random component orders to the LMC. Superficially, they all appeared to be legitimate companies that all owned mechs but needed urgent replacements.

Ves wasn’t fooled. They all stood for shadier organizations that wanted to make use of his workshop’s unregistered and unmonitored Dortmund printer to fabricate a whole swathe of mech parts. Much of the orders his company received consisted of complex parts that regular printers couldn’t handle.

Still, his Dortmund printer should provide enough assistance to Carlos that he’d be able to handle the majority of the orders by himself. Ves only took care of the most difficult orders which consisted of various compressed armor plating.

"I still think this is a bad idea. The more we fabricate, the more we become involved." Carlos repeated to Ves. "I don’t want to wake up with a gun pointed at my head one day."

Ves idly waved away his concern. "Relax, Carlos. It’s safe here in Cloudy Curtain. It’s ten times worse if I decided to set my business up in Bentheim."

Even if he exaggerated a bit, his words possessed an element of truth. Managing your relations with the local gangs had often been considered as the cost of doing business in Bentheim.

Frankly, the sheer amount of shady activities that went on in the port system exposed the Republic’s weakness. Its relatively lose grasp on society allowed an abundance of bad actors to settle between its gaps.

The weeks went by in a blur. Even the challenge of fabricating the exotic orders didn’t fase Ves much. He left Carlos with the rest of the workload and boarded his corvette which held two packed mechs, Melkor’s Stanislaw and Raella’s Vektrix.

Ves learned his lesson. Instead of hoping for the best, he prepared for the worst. After the last incident on Bentheim, his family arranged a permit for him to travel around with a mech escort.

He didn’t leave his fate to chance and made more preparations. He contracted Sanyal-Ablin to provide armed transportation and additional security at the festival. The Coalition security company eagerly accepted the job after Ves paid them a hefty sum.

Raella, Melkor and Lucky accompanied him aboard the Barracuda. By now, Raella recovered fully from her poisoning and showed eagerness to get back into shape. Even the bad memories she got from her last trip to Bentheim didn’t dim her enthusiasm to get out in the galaxy.

"Hopefully nothing happens this time." Raella remarked as she sipped a special nutrient-rich solution at the lounge. "It’s annoying to fight against enemies who hide in the dark."

Ves pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. "Who can say? At least the chaos on Bentheim has subsided a bit. The Mech Corps did a good job rooting out the BLM from their hiding holes."

"Yeah, but the damage is already done."

After Ves shook her dainty little hand, he regarded her with a curious expression. Unlike Bollinger who exhibited the muscular physique of an ex-veteran mech pilot, Antje looked like a fairy. That must help a lot in the business as many clients probably underestimated her poise. _{freewёbn૦νeɭ.com}