The Mech Touch

ped potential there.
Ves just needed to reach out and unearth it to gain an army of relatives who all benefited with him at the top.

As for how he planned to secure their loyalty?

”Money always works. ” He grinned.

No matter how much dividends the Larkinsons earned from owning a part of the LMC, they would never spread the wealth as much as the individual Larkinsons desired.
The Larkinson Estate had to ensure the prosperity of the future generation of Larkinsons, so most of the money pouring in went on to fund further investments, particularly in real estate.

The average Larkinson didn ’t actually receive a bigger stipend from the Larkinson Estate! Only the mech pilots among the family enjoyed greater support!

”I ’ll have to start making moves on my family as soon as I get home. ” He muttered.

He added yet another goal to his lengthy list of goals.
Though he managed to complete some of his objectives with his recent actions, the list still looked as daunting as ever.
He simply had too much to do!

As soon as he completed his morning routine, he turned to Nitaa and Gavin.
”Today is the day we enter the site where the Circle of Mota set up their temporary marketplace, right? ”

Both of them nodded.

”Do you want me to go along? ” Gavin asked.

Ves shook his head.
”Not this time.
I want you to maintain a visible presence on Cinach VIII to show that we haven ’t entirely disappeared.
Just find some work that you can do on my behalf and pretend that I ’m stuck in this hotel suite because I have to perform some urgent design work or something.
It ’s important to set up a credible alibi before I feel confident enough to partake in a highly illicit underground gathering.
The Battle Criers have already sent down one of their men to dress up in my Pride of Dusk in order to act as a decoy again. ”

The Circle of Mota was not a regular underground organization.
The temporary marketplace they set up was completely different from the so-called black markets of the Reinald Republic.

Reinald itself pretty much condoned the vast majority of the illegal trade taking place in the Harkensen System!

It was different for the Sentinel Kingdom! They maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards pirates, and an organization like the Circle of Mota which explicitly sought to foster ties between Sentinels and Nyxian pirates was a cancer that had to be exterminated!

Ves risked much to participate in this gathering, but he hoped the potential gains might be worth it.
Not only did he wished to look out for P-stones and F-stones, he also wanted to see whether the traders there knew more about geril spice.

Nitaa and Gavin both made ample preparations for the trip.
Gavin coordinated with Crindon to procure different outfits that completely hid their bodies and dampened any scanning directed at their bodies.

While they weren ’t foolproof, any scanning that overcame the barriers would have to be so powerful that Ves could easily sense the attempts.

Gavin opened up a crate containing an outfit for Ves and an outfit for Nitaa.

The base of the outfit for Ves consisted of a specialized dampening hardsuit that resembled a suit of combat armor but without the protection.
He also had the option to wear a voluminous, hooded black robe that resembled those worn by the Shadow Couriers.
The fabric added even more protection against probing because the fabric incorporated a myriad of sensor-scrambling layers.

”Apparently, there is a thriving market for suits that are solely built to hide the identities of those who wear them. ” Gavin explained.
”The shadow attire I ’ve procured for you isn ’t cheap, but it ’s unique.
Both the light hardsuit and the robe will do wonders in deflecting scans.
Crindon already went over them and made sure they don ’t carry any bugs or other traps.
The hardsuit is devoid of any powered systems to ensure maximum anonymity. ”

Ves was very satisfied with the so-called shadow attire.
As he whipped out his Vulcaneye and attempted to scan them, he noticed that he encountered a high amount of interference that turned the readings fuzzy.

This was a very impressive result considering his Vulcaneye functioned a lot better than ordinary scanners! Inferior machines would probably only return static or junk data!

Nitaa grunted with approval, though she also added a warning.
”Shadow attire is supposed to be one-use only.
While sensors and scanners can ’t record who is inside, it can still register their exterior features.
If you use the same shadow attire again, then investigators can match your public appearances to the appearance of the individual wearing this distinctive outfit. ”

”In other words, shadow attire only works well if their users aren ’t idiots. ”

The outfit for Nitaa looked completely different.
Her towering height made it difficult to obscure her identity!

In order to hide the fact that she was so goddamn tall, Gavin and Crindon worked to procure a suit of heavy combat armor.
Its immense bulk and mass already exceeded Nitaa ’s body proportions.

As long as she suited up, no one would be able to tell if a giant or a dwarf was hiding underneath all of the layers!

”The core portion of Nitaa ’s shadow attire is so heavy that it has to be powered.
However, only the most basic systems are running its servos.
Crindon already went over its rudimentary software and found nothing amiss.
You ’re welcome to check the heavy hardsuit for yourself if you want to be sure it ’s secure. ”

Ves nursed his head.
He still ached a bit from the constant influx of knowledge.
”I ’ll do it.
I don ’t trust the makers of shadow attires to be completely honest.
It ’s better safe than sorry. ”

Though it took some effort and a few hours of tinkering, Ves completed his inspection of the shadow attires without finding anything amiss.
Both outfits worked as advertised.

Along with all of the other preparations they made, Ves felt secure enough to proceed!

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