The Mech Touch novel Chapter 951

Ves and Commander Dise spent more than an hour in the Jaded Sword’s conference room. Amidst the trophies, flags, banners and other impressive artifacts, the two haggled two concurrent deals at once.

A confluence of interests sped the negotiations up. The Vandals and Swordmaidens both suffered heavy damage from the mission so far and wouldn’t turn their backs to additional help.

The key was to make a credible agreement that provided plenty of incentives for both sides to stick to the deal. While Ves mainly negotiated on behalf of the Vandals, he also tried to make sure the Swordmaidens had no reason to renege on the deal once they thought it over.

Overall, Ves faithfully stuck to the points and priorities laid out by Major Verle. No matter what, he needed to forge an attractive enough deal for Major Verle to show off to his superiors. As long as this deal provided sufficient benefits to the Bright Republic, the decision makers who possessed the final say would definitely be more inclined to put their stamp on the agreement.

Of course, alongside the public deal, Ves was much more interested in hammering out the details of their private deal.

"Right now, you Swordmaidens lack a competent Journeyman Mech Designer." He began when they drifted to this topic. "Having benefited from Mayra’s presence all these years, I’m sure you know what kind of benefits a genuine Journeyman can provide to your organization. While I’m not able to take over her role and provide the same level of services as she once did, I’m more than open to lending a hand every now and then in exchange for favors."

The bald and dark-skinned commander smiled warily at him. "Favors can be expensive and hard to pay back. What kind of favors do you have in mind, Ves?"

This was the point where Ves laid out his demands. For now, he didn’t dare ask for anything too major. Their partnership still needed to go through a lot of time and successful cooperation before he could reveal his ambitions for the frontier.

"First, I want you to represent my business interests in the Faris Star Region. More specifically, I want the Swordmaidens to act as a secret channel to the various black markets and other exchanges open to pirates. There are a lot of rare exotics and other valuable goods that are hard or almost impossible to come by in civilized space. Even if they are available, all the middlemen involved will usually balloon the base price by five to ten times. I want a more direct channel to the frontier’s most valuable exports."

Commander Dise didn’t seem surprised that Ves started with this demand. "We can do that, for a price. Obtaining these kinds of hot goods and smuggling them to your hands will take a lot of effort."

The exact commission they agreed on was rather tentative and subject to change, but it definitely made it worthwhile for the Swordmaidens to fulfill his needs.

Ves knew he’d be better off paying a generous commission to the Swordmaidens rather than access any of the black markets he could access in civilized space.

With the Swordmaidens, he’d be able to purchase his goods from the source or at least close to it. In contrast, those markets and exchanges in places like the Harkensen System truly charged exorbitant prices for the same goods and services!

Not only did the middlemen needed to be paid for all the risks they took, separate organizations probably already reserved much of the good stuff for themselves at preferential rates.

This left the black market vendors at the very end of the chain with only a fraction of what had been obtained at the source. Demand for it hadn’t changed, but the supply of it was much less. Raising the original price by a hundred or even a thousand times wasn’t out of the question!

Nonetheless, while Ves valued this clandestine black market channel, he wanted more out of this relationship with the Swordmaidens.

The opportunity to forge ties with an established pirate organization didn’t come every day! More than that, the Swordmaidens incurred significant losses and experienced a lot of upheavals at the moment.

They needed help. A lot of help. It wouldn’t be easy for them to recover decades-worth of accumulation. In order to rebuild the Swordmaidens in a timely manner before their old enemies ganged up on them, they urgently needed a helping hand.

The main deal that Ves just closed with the Swordmaidens was the first helping hand. The secondary deal that Ves currently tried to make was the second helping hand.

Two hands were more than enough to lift the Swordmaidens back to their feet.

"Aside from opening up a channel for me and my company, I also want you to act as guides and escorts to any mech forces I send into the frontier." Ves stated, proceeding to his second demand. "It would be a similar arrangement with the Vandals right now. If I ever need something significant done in the frontier, I won’t ask you to do them in my stead. I’ll instead send my own forces, if I have any. Your role would be to guide them to their destination and let them do their thing before escorting them back to the border."

Commander Dise appeared much more hesitant about such an arrangement. "This isn’t unheard of, but it depends on whether my Swordmaidens are available. While we know the lay of the land and we can depend on our name and friendships to get us by, we also have a lot of enemies as well. Your forces might get caught up in our own troubles."

"I’ll take the risk. I believe in your sincerity. What I truly need from the Swordmaidens is your reputation and standing among the local bullies in the frontier. It will save my forces a lot of time and effort if they can avoid needless fights and reach their destination without stepping on the toes of other pirates."

Because Ves did not intend to draw upon this service until several years later, the two quickly agreed to this commitment on a trial basis.

"Are there any other desires you wish for us to fulfill?" Dise asked. Though she didn’t seem too enthused about indulging Ves, for the sake of money and skilled mech designer support she seemed willing to hear him out.

Going into bed with someone like Ves who survived the same harrowing experiences as her was a lot better than doing business with some stuck-up business who never stepped foot in the frontier! At the very least, Ves had proven himself worthy of their trust!

"Perhaps in the future, I’d like something done in the frontier. For example, eliminate a specific outfit or expedition that’s inconvenient for me or my forces to be associated with the deed. Having the Swordmaidens take care of these dealings without leaving behind a trail that leads back to me is something I would definitely be appreciative of. It’s even better if you can fool another pirate gang into doing the job instead."