The Mech Touch

o the point where almost every visitor parted in their way.

Ves evoked different reactions from his better-armed security escort due to his slimmer form and his billowing cape.
The fabric caught easily in the air, but possessed enough weight at the bottom to prevent it from smacking in the face of someone walking behind.

While Ves wasn ’t the only person in the station who wore a cape, for some unspoken reason only the higher-ranking members of the outfit wore them.
This caused many more eyes to stare at Ves, wondering what position a young man like him held to deserve this impressive privilege.

”

The only ones who refused to make way were those who wore similar gear.
Men and women from other outfits adhered to the same rules of showing off their prowess, so they all came geared for war.

Each group of armed and armored men tread confidently through the public areas of the space station.
Encountering rival groupings on the street led to sparks of tension, but the friction never led to conflict.

The Bosey Clan did not appreciate fighting within their space station.
Mancroft was a very useful stopping point to pirates so they generally wanted to keep it intact.
Any attempts to sow death and chaos meant making an enemy out of all the pirates docked to the space station.

The glares the other pirates directed to Ves and the Vandals only served to measure their grit.
There were plenty of playboys on this station that pretended to be greater than they actually were.
The Flagrant Vandals were the real deal, so they stared right back with provoking glances.

”This is getting rather tiresome. ” Ves muttered after fending off yet another unspoken challenge to their right to carry around so much bling.
”If pirates have to deal with this stuff each time they step into public, then I would rather stay back in civilized space. ”

This sounded absurd to Ketis.
”I don ’t see what the big deal is.
Don ’t you always have to look tough when you pass by some pirates? ”

”It ’s not as automatic to us as it is for you.
It ’s not polite to stare people in the eyes with a greedy expression. ”

She shrugged.
”Sometimes I don ’t know how you people in civilized space managed to stay alive.
How can you scare off muggers when you aren ’t able to show you ’re strong enough to beat them up? ”

”We have a thing called law and order there.
The police or planetary guard will step in if someone tries to rob you in their jurisdiction. ”

Ketis looked speechless at that.
Police? Planetary Guard? What did those words mean?

Ves brushed aside her confusion and activated a navigation app on his comm.
With Ketis, Nolsen and three more exoskeleton brutes in tow, he followed the directions projected by his comm towards the only comm center in Mancroft.

They walked past various Bosey guards in heavy and exoskeleton armor.
Ves walked up in front of the desk and greeted the clerk.

”I ’d like to establish a connection to Malligan ’s Pitstop via your Tzianti crystal. ”

The clerk perked up at that.
Communicating through Tzianti crystals only happened for important transmissions.
”Do you have a referral or a set of protocols? ”

”I have the right protocols. ”

Ves transmitted the files to the clerk, who inspected them before determining they were valid.

”Everything is in order.
The Tzianti crystal connected to Malligan ’s Pitstop is available for your use.
The price for a single transmission is currently set at thirteen K-coins per minute.
If you wish to inspect them under heavy supervision of our own experts, you may do so for an additional fee of two-hundred K-coins. ”

Ves almost wanted to slap the clerk ’s face for charging such a ridiculous.
Thirteen K-coins amounted to five-thousand bright credits! Still, Ves had no cause for complaint, as using the crystals introduced cracks that needed special materials to repair.
Besides, someone like Ves hardly blinked his eyes anymore when he spent a couple of thousand bright credits.

”We ’ll pay. ”

Luckily, he was authorized to use the regimental account for this expenditure.
Since he got someone else to pay his fees, Ves might as well take full advantage of it.
He requested to make a personal inspection, which the clerk accepted like he already expect it.
Ves was not the first customer to be paranoid enough to double-check the comm center ’s arrangements.

The clerk led him down a stairway and into a heavily-fortified compartment.
Roving patrols of Bosey guards occasionally passed them by.

The inspection didn ’t take very long.
Ves was mildly impressed as he beheld the house-sized crystal.
He whipped out his multiscanner from the toolbelt he had wrapped around his armor and methodically scanned the entire space.

Due to time concerns, he couldn ’t spend as much time as he wished, but his inspection was thorough enough to reveal that the Boseys had indeed kept the chamber free from bugs.

At some point further inspections were redundant.
His military-issued multiscanner might be better than the civilian models, but its size and power limitations prevented it from performing any deeper or more thorough scans.

”I guess I have to put my faith in the existing arrangements. ”

Ves was about to have a sensitive discussion with a notorious expert pilot killer.
It may have been one thing to slay an expert pilot in battle.
It was another thing entirely if an expert died by someone from their own side for ’academic ’ purposes.

He silently grumbled at the Skull Architect ’s audacity.
If he really wanted to butcher an expert pilot or three, he should have been more patient.
The best choice would be to arrange the kidnapping of an expert pilot from the Hexadric Hegemony, the Friday Coalition ’s hated rivals.

If that wasn ’t possible, then the weak third-rate states surrounding their territories also had a bunch of expert pilots to spare.

”Though, if that really happened, the MTA will get pissed even more. ”

Every elite pilot who advanced to expert or higher automatically received protection from the MTA.
Wholesale assasination or coercion on these privileged classes always provoked the ire of the Mech Trade Association.

”The Skull Architect was doomed either way. ”