The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5735 Intertwined

Isthmus Manufacturing had become immensely important to the Larkinson Clan.

Not only was this company responsible for producing the vast majority of Fey Fiannas and Ultimatums in existence, it also channeled an enormous amount of wealth to the Larkinsons.

Ves had a strong interest in seeing it prosper for that reason. Anything that threatened the current status quo demanded his utmost attention!

He leaned forward and studied Kelsey Ampatoch a lot more closely. Was the man truly just a civilian Rubarthan who managed to get recruited by Isthmus Manufacturing, or did he hold other identities as well?

The mech designer was remarkably well-informed about the latent dangers of his mech company.

"Can you identify the possible enemies of mine that might try to strike at me by messing with your current employer?"

"I have only heard sporadic rumors in my old workplace, so I cannot guarantee the veracity of this information." Ampatoch said. "It is well-known that you have a relation with the Destroyer of Worlds. That is making many people assume you have thrown your support behind the Inferno Spear Prince."

"That's not entirely correct." Ves shook his head. "I would like to maintain a neutral posture as much as possible. I am not invested in the decision of who gets to rule over the Rubarthan Pact. The only issue is that other people don't believe me, and constantly treat me as if I am in someone's camp already. Their behavior is pushing me away from my neutral stance."

"Be that as it may, the fact of the matter is that the Smokestack Prince and the many people who answer to him regard you as their adversary. You are not an enemy that they want to kill. Even they are not mad enough to betray red humanity by doing the native aliens a favor. They merely consider you an obstacle to their own ambitions. It would be better for them if your power and influence are contained, just as with the mechers that you have grown close with. Sabotaging Isthmus Manufacturing by strangling its supply of raw materials is a good way to make this happen."

Ves looked more and more upset. The damn Rubarthan succession crisis was threatening to get in his way! As much as he wanted to ignore this silly conflict, he could not stand by and allow it to drag down his latest crown jewel.

"I seriously doubt that all of those suppliers can unilaterally break through contracts with Isthmus Manufacturing." He skeptically said. "All of these large and long-standing companies place a huge value on their reputation. Trust is essential for companies to stay in business for more than a century. Those who try to screw over their business partners might be able to harvest a lot of short-term gains, but their long-term prospects will subsequently be ruined. Even if many of these suppliers that Isthmus depends upon are indirectly or directly controlled by the Smokestack Prince, their credibility will take a huge hit if they break their agreements all at once. The prince himself will also take a huge hit by making such a move."

It was one thing for an emperor to make a tyrannical move. It was another thing for a prince to do the same!

Ves did not have a deep understanding of Rubarthan society, but even he knew that the only person who really got to break the rules with impunity was the Star Emperor.

The original New Rubarth Empire was deliberately set up this way. Much of its administration had to play by the rules. The Star Emperor was only supposed to make a move if all of the existing laws and policies failed to produce the desired outcomes.

Since the Rubarthan princes were supposed to be extensions of their sire, the only instances where they were allowed to break the rules was if they were acting on the instructions of their sovereign.

This obviously did not apply to the current scenario as the Rubarthan Pact was currently leaderless. The recently built throne still remained empty and pristine at this time.

This caused Ves to grow puzzled. How could the Smokestack Prince and his inner circle possibly think they could get away with using coercive methods to disrupt Isthmus Manufacturing's stability?

Kelsey Ampatoch happened to have the answer.

"It is not entirely unrealistic for this to happen, professor. As I have mentioned before, your enemies are our enemies as well. Any weaknesses on your part will reflect onto Isthmus due to your close association with the company. Right now, I have heard rumors that the people supporting the Smokestack Prince have formed an informal coalition with your other enemies to put pressure on you. The upcoming public inquiry on your living mechs is their best chance to impede your growth and prevent your influence from expanding any further."

Ah.

So that was it. The inquiry, which was actually shaping up to become a tribunal, had been looming over his head for a while now, but he did not recognize how it tied to Isthmus Manufacturing until this moment.

Ampatoch's words made a lot of sense. Ves had harmed the interests of a lot of people and groups during his rise, so it would be unnatural if they did not strike back.

Though Ves had already recognized the potential danger posed by this public inquiry, he did not realize that the consequences of a poor showing would be so bad.

If this contentious debate turned against his favor, then his reputation would undeniably suffer a large blow.

That might just give the faction led by the Smokestack Prince the excuse it needed to force a lot of suppliers under its sway to stop doing business with Isthmus Manufacturing.

After all, the mech manufacturer was currently responsible for producing huge quantities of LMC products that all had the potential to evolve into third order living mechs.

The warning conveyed by Kelsey Ampatoch had changed Ves' perspective on the upcoming public inquiry. He was forced to take it a lot more seriously now that he knew that the stakes were a lot higher than he previously thought.

Ves grunted in frustration. The fundamental problem was not that a poor showing at the public inquiry threatened to cripple his cash cow.

The real source of his difficulties was that Isthmus Manufacturing was not vertically integrated enough to satisfy its enormous demand for raw materials.

Even if his enemies lost a chance to deliver a painful blow to his business operations, they would wait for another opportunity to try again at a later date.

"If every external partner suddenly decides to stop doing business with Isthmus, how much can the company meet its own immediate needs?" Ves asked.

"I am not in charge of logistics and such, so I cannot give you a precise answer." The Rubarthan mech designer responded. "From what I have heard and inferred, I think that production will easily drop by 80 percent in a matter of months. While our company does own numerous mining companies, they can only supply a fraction of the materials needed to produce our current output. It is impossible to increase this in the short term as every other material supplier is already locked in their own contracts. Their output is nearly fully reserved by other manufacturers."

Too many industries required raw materials to produce starships, buildings and many other useful stuff. It became harder and harder for independents to do business because they found it far too difficult to obtain raw materials at reasonable prices.

This was why Isthmus Manufacturing's existing collection of long-term contracts were so important. They guaranteed the company's continued operation without needing to worry about getting cut off all of a sudden.

Though Ves felt a little guilty that his problems had spilled over to the company, the two had become too intertwined with each other to keep their problems separate.

For the sake of his 20 percent ownership of the company, Ves needed to save it from a potential crisis.

"I need to have a good talk with Mr. Micky Tarukan." He grumbled. "He is most certainly aware of these issues. His failure to inform me of this potential danger is a severe shortcoming."

"Isthmus is still de facto owned by the Impresario Prince, professor. Our leaders should have notified His Highness first. He may already be working towards a solution."

That sounded plausible, but it did not stop Ves from growing annoyed at being left out of the loop.

Ves sighed. "Whatever the case, I cannot allow my adversaries to disparage my living mechs and paint them as a threat to human society. I will do my best to defend my work when it is put on trial, but even I cannot completely predict its outcome."

He had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as he thought to get away from the public inquiry without suffering any consequences.

Perhaps he needed to think about taking additional measures in order to stack the deck in his favor.

He already had a plan in mind. It was risky and might cause him to owe a few more favors, but Ves could not afford to compromise his current business success just because he was afraid of making serious concessions.

The conversation eventually wound back to Kelsey Ampatoch's job application.

Ves had less objections to allowing the Journeyman join his clan than before, but that did not mean he was done with his questioning. He still had to figure out if Ampatoch was able to add anything useful to the Design Department.

"Let's talk about your work as a mech designer. What is your specialization?"

"I specialize in a Class I design philosophy that is broadly categorized as Subversion Systems."

A Class I design philosophy, huh? That was interesting. Mech designers who formed them tended to be very ambitious. His wife Gloriana happened to be among this relatively small group.

"What does Subversion Systems entail?"

Kelsey Ampatoch smiled as he began to explain his passion. "As a mech designer, I have never been content with working within the existing rules and expectations of technology. Back when I was a student, I had already acquired the habit of taking apart devices and trying to see if I could make them behave outside of their expected parameters. I became good at subverting their original functions and caused them to behave completely differently. By the time I graduated from university, I became much better at hacking, finding loopholes and exploiting all of these vulnerabilities. No system is perfect. There is always a hole, a gap or an unanticipated interaction that you can take advantage of. It is due to my specialization that allowed me to get in touch with the research of infiltrating enemy transphasic energy shields. Much of the theory is relevant to my own strengths, hence why I was able to adapt the tech into a fey."

Interesting. Kelsey Ampatoch sounded like a mech designer that would do particularly well in identifying flaws and shortcomings.

He also sounded like a dangerous person as he could easily help nefarious parties point out the flaws of their enemies before telling them how to best exploit these weaknesses.

Ves would rather have such an asset under his wing than to leave open the possibility that Ampatoch would work for his enemies one day.

All of this was pushing him into snapping up Kelsey Ampatoch on the spot.

Yet the more he felt this way, the more he grew suspicious about this entire sequence of events.

It was as if reality was going out of its way to ensure that Ves recruited the Rubarthan mech designer.

This entire circumstance favored Ampatoch so much that it just did not sit well with Ves!

Why was this the case? Was Ampatoch truly just the man he presented himself as, or was he hiding another identity?

Ves could not afford to let his doubts linger in his mind any longer. He needed to confront them once and for all if he wanted this job interview to go any further.