The Mech Touch novel Chapter 271

So far, Ves visited two very different mech manufacturers. Vaun Industrial prioritized efficiency above all else while Vikaris Mechs possessed an abundance of heart. That said, neither seemed like the right fit for the LMC.

Gavin partially echoed his findings. "I can understand your doubts about Vaun, but I thought you’d be sympathetic for Vikaris. They employ lots of people and they all seem to care for their work."

"Well, it all seems a bit too harmonious. The people there seem happy, but Frederick Yang is just a patsy. Someone else is pulling the strings in the company."

"Now that you think about it, Mr. Yang doesn’t seem very assertive for a CEO. You’ve got a bright eye for taking of that."

Combined with the overly generous contract terms, all of it seemed suspicious. Ves refused to entertain any further thoughts of cooperation with Vikaris Mechs unless they became more forthcoming on their background.

"Another thing that bugs me is the apparent charity that’s going on." Ves continued. "It seems to be built on a fragile base. What if some of those workers harbor sympathies for the BLM? It’s incredibly easy for a single infiltrator to sabotage an entire production line, or worse, cover up any instances of defects."

"I didn’t think about that. You’re right. There’s too many people going in and out everyday. All of that security around their complex won’t be able to stop a determined saboteur who already has free access to everything from the start."

Ves ran a business, not a social project. The main goals of the LMC should be to advance his interests and make a profit. He couldn’t care less about the plight of the citizens of Haston. Bentheim’s government should be cleaning up their own messes.

"Let’s move onto the next destination. Who are we visiting last?"

Gavin turned to his data pad again. "We’ll be dropping by a company called Elemental Mech Engineering. EME is actually a company founded by a reasonably successful mech designer called Andar Neverland. They currently only operate four production lines, but they’re fairly modern and capable."

This sounded like another distressed manufacturer. "Is Mr. Neverland still alive?"

"Oh, he’s alive and well. He even has a daughter who’s a bit younger than you who’s studying mech design at Ansel. From what we’ve gathered, EME has been chugging along great until their licenses expired."

This happened fairly often to mech designers. They budgeted out their earnings and saved up money for a license renewal or a net set of licenses, but something happened along the way that caused a gap to occur. The key here was finding out why Neverland couldn’t acquire another set of licenses.

It didn’t take too much trouble for Gavin to look up the reasons. "Sales of Neverland’s designs have slumped in recent times. A huge transgalactic mech manufacturer entered the market with a fantastic design that outperformed Neverland’s own products on both price and performance. Now he’s facing a budget shortfall of several billion credits due to the fact he borrowed a lot of money to get his hands on quality fabrication equipment."

"Sounds like EME is Neverland’s private playground. Does his company have any experience with doing contract work?"

"Not really. They’re scrambling for work but their lack of pedigree in this field of business means that not a lot of clients are tempted to work with them. It also doesn’t help that they’re asking a lot of compensation for their efforts."

Out of the three parties the LMC had their eyes on, EME offered the least attractive terms. They only agreed to hand over 2.5 million credits per sale, half the offer of Vikaris Mechs. In exchange, EME offered smaller concessions in other areas, such as letting the LMC keep a close eye on their activities.

The shuttle reached the industrial district of Ansel and landed at a cramped and densely built complex that bore the logo of EME. As Ves and Gavin exited the shuttle, they met with the founder and lead designer inside a lobby.

A middle-aged man greeted them with much aplomp. "Mr. Larkinson! It’s a privilege to meet you in the flesh! You’re a famous mech designer now. The industry is buzzing about your rise to fame."

"You flatter me." Ves casually laughed in return. "My accomplishments pale in comparison to yours."

In his opinion, experts in the mech industry hardly took any notice of Ves. They considered his duel against Dumont to be as trivial as two ignorant toddlers fighting each other over a shiny toy.

Mech designers like Neverland deserved a lot of respect for elevating his company to such a height from scratch. Even if he failed to hedge his bets in recent times, he was still very much ahead of the game compared to someone like Ves.

"I haven’t heard much about you. Please tell me about your designs."

Neverland looked eager to talk about his own work. "The pride and joy of the EME is the Klamson series. The Klamsons are a line of striker mechs with varying loadouts, from flamethrowers to shotguns. I’ve even supplied some of the remote Planetary Guard units with Klamsons armed with fluid projectors."

"Can I take a look at the design?"

"Oh sure! They’re archived in the MTA, so it doesn’t hurt for you to take a look."

Ves received a data pad that contained a couple of abridged design schematics. He skimmed over the documents and inspected the wireframe schematics with an eye for attention.

In his eyes, the Klamson design didn’t look very fancy, but neither did it attempt to overreach its capabilities. It was a simple, workable design that had matured over the course of a decade. The Klamson mechs also benefited from fairly premium third-class components.

Still, despite their qualities, it wouldn’t be too hard for a competitor to come up with a better design. They’d have to take some risks and be more skilled, but it could be done without resorting to more expensive components.

In a way, the EME treated the Klamson series like a cash cow. Neverland probably rested on his laurels thinking that a couple of minor updates every year would suffice to keep the design competitive.

He made a big mistake and fell behind as a result. It didn’t help that Neverland invested a lot of money into expanding the EME’s production capacity just before his sales followed a downward trajectory.