As Ves dove deeper into the details of Cenatus Prospecting and its ignomous boss, he became more wary of the other pioneering fleet that just happened to be relaxing in the same star system at the moment. "Despite the name of the company, Cenatus hasn't done a lot of actual prospecting and mining." Ves observed. "It is impossible for this company to raise such a large fleet and build up such a large mech force by sniffing out pockets of phasewater and valuable exotics in random star systems." Calabast smiled. "That is because Cenatus Prospecting is just a cover for Magrin's actual profit generating activities. It gives the fleet enough excuses to enter the less civilized regions of space and roam around areas other isolated pioneering fleets pass by. It is much easier for vultures to take advantage of their prey in the more remote regions of space. The area we are in right now is also quieter than the other locations in the border region." "I see what you mean." There were too many signs that pointed to the possibility that Cenatus Prospecting had set its sights on the Golden Skull Alliance. This was trouble. Ves struggled to think on how the expeditionary fleet could get rid of this tail without making Mr. Magrin even more determined to follow the Golden Skullers around! It sounded like an impossible mission. Otrus Magrin was not as young and inexperienced as Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik. This was a genuine old dog whose advanced age was already a clear sign of success. Older bastards like this were always tricky to outsmart and outmaneuver. The only way to truly beat them was to smash their assets and remove their ability to interfere in any meaningful way! That was obviously out of the question. The Larkinsons weren't shameless enough to tolerate unprovoked attacks against other pioneering forces, especially ones that did not engage in active hostilities. Perhaps the only way to convince his men to attack the Cenatus forces was when the latter persistently followed the Golden Skull Alliance around. The problem was that the goal of the Larkinson Clan was incredibly close at the moment! Ves could not predict what he and his troops would find over there. If there were powerful enemies that took a lot of effort to defeat, then the vulture might decide to pounce at the most inconvenient time! "How would you handle this situation if you had the power to decide our course?" Ves asked his spymaster. Calabast tapped her feet against the deck. "I wouldn't rely on my judgment alone. This is such a major problem that it is better to hold a meeting and analyze our current situation from multiple different perspectives. That said, my personal recommendation is that we should proceed without taking any special notice of Cenatus Prospecting." So she decided that it was best to ignore the vulture as much as possible and hope it would grow bored enough to switch to a more vulnerable prey. "What are your arguments?" Ves demanded. "First off, ignoring a vulture is tentatively regarded as the best general response you can make. As long as we pretend that we are doing nothing special, there shouldn't be any ways for vultures to exploit any openings." "That means that we should avoid conflict and other specific activities as much as possible. Will that be possible while we are close to retrieving our mission objective?" "We have already dispatched a scout ship to the 'Ramage Repulsor System' as you have decided to call it. Once the corvette has entered the destination system, she will soon give us an up-to-date picture of what can be found in the small star system. If there are no clear signs of hostile warships or mechs, we can proceed to send over the rest of our fleet. It should be fairly easy to pretend that we are just fooling around while we covertly pick up Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik. We will have to defend heavily on our stealth assets to do the job." "Which means we can't send in large amounts of troops or any of our expert mechs." Ves flatly stated. "Correct." Calabast nodded. "You may choose to send in more forces to whatever place Lord Yorul-Tavik is hiding, but that will most certainly catch the attention of the vulture. If Mr. Magrin is somehow able to deduce that we have picked up the one and only Lord Pearian, then all hell will break loose!" There were too many ways that a bastard like Otrus Magrin could exploit this information. From Gathering a group of like-minded pioneers to assault the Golden Skull Alliance to selling out the news to hundreds of different forces that were trying their best to find the missing scion, there was no way that the expeditionary fleet would be left alone! While it was best to wait and do nothing for several weeks until the Cenatus Prospecting fleet grew bored enough to move away, Ves didn't want to wait anymore. The longer he and his forces stayed in the chaotic border region, the greater the chance of encountering other pioneering fleets that might provoke other kinds of trouble! As much as Ves disliked it, Calabast's proposal sounded like the best way to go forward. It was not that risky and Otrus Magrin wouldn't be able to pick up any clues if the stealth operation proceeded without issue. The expeditionary fleet could then begin to make their way out of the border region. So long as the Black Cats and the scouting vessels remained on point, the chances of bumping into trouble shouldn't be too great. "This is a decent plan, but… too many things have to go right." Ves muttered. Calabast nodded as she readily acknowledged this issue. "That is true, but all of our other available options aren't so good either. The next-best solution is to hinder the movements of the Cenatus Prospecting fleet. One of the ways we can do that is to sneak infiltrators aboard their ships and have them sabotage important systems such as FTL drives or propulsion systems. As long as we cripple one or two capital ships, we can force our adversaries to stay in place and guard their impaired vessels until they can be repaired." "That sounds like a more interesting option." Ves said. "There is no way that Otrus Magrin will expose a valuable capital ship to the many threats in this region of space. Any third-party pioneering fleet that happens to see a fleet carrier or something that is completely alone and without the ability to run away will definitely accept the free meal!" However, this plan came with its own host of problems. "Mr. Otrus Magrin shouldn't be a leader who is blind to this possibility." Calabast warned. "His fleet and mech forces are professional and fairly well-funded and well-staffed by many accounts, so it will not be easy to slip in saboteurs aboard their capital ships. We absolutely cannot infiltrate their flagship because it is presumably under the protection of Saint Neville Magrin, their only ace pilot." Nothing escaped the notice of an ace pilot within the confines of his Saint Kingdom. As long as the ace pilot performed regular patrols, then he could not only ensure the safety of the flagship, but any other capital ship his ace mech swept by as well! The existence of an opposing ace pilot also ruled out the possibility of assassinating Otrus Magrin. Ves briefly entertained the notion of sneaking his cyborg cat onto the Cenatus flagship and directly removing the source of his current problem. However, the chances of getting discovered were too high. At worst, his cyborg cat would get blown up by the enemy ace mech without mercy! He sighed and looked up at Calabast. "Your first proposal is probably the best way to go forward, but I intend to hold a meeting so that we can gather more ideas." "Suit yourself." The spymaster shrugged. "All I can say is that preventing word from leaking out should be our highest priority. Thousands of pioneering fleets have already poured into this region, and more are undoubtedly on their way to join the fun. Gaining the favor of the Yorul-Tavik Clan is just that valuable. Anyone with at least decent acumen can take advantage of this valuable relationship to promote not just themselves, but also their power base into first-raters." "You don't need to remind me, Calabast." The two talked a bit more before the meeting ended. Once Calabast made her departure, Ves sighed once again while staring around his office. It had become a bit more impressive after he added a few trophies from the latest battle. The prosperity tree was still doing well, but that meant nothing. "Meow." Lucky demanded Ves' attention again now that the office became quiet again. "Are you hungry again, Lucky?" "Meow meow." "You just ate a lot of alien metals a while ago! Is there even space left in your tummy?" "Meow meow meow!" "Okay, okay! Let me see what I have…" Ves opened up a drawer and picked up a spare chunk of ore that he had on hand for situations like these. He was just about to throw it to his cat before he suddenly developed a wicked idea. A grin appeared on his face as he dangled the fairly precious chunk of ore in front of Lucky's green eyes. "Meow…" The cat already began to salivate. Just as Ves was about to toss the rocky snack to his first cat, he abruptly swung his hand the other way and popped the chunk of ore into his mouth! "MEOW!" Lucky jumped into the air in alarm as he saw that Ves was biting something that was decidedly not edible with his teeth! What surprised the gem cat even more was that Ves' teeth didn't break from eating such a hard substance. Somehow, Ves managed to break up the hard ore with the force of his jaw and the strength of his unnaturally hard teeth! Hard crunching noises filled up the office as crumbs of rocky and metallic materials dropped onto his uniform before sliding down onto the deck. "Meow…?" As Ves finally steadily swallowed his exotic 'snack', Lucky looked as if he was half-convinced that he was still dreaming. The cat even rubbed his optical sensors with his front paws in order to make sure they weren't foggy or anything! It finally dawned on Lucky what just took place. Ves stole his meal. The damn human not only gained the capability to eat the same 'food' as him, but also had the temerity to deprive the rightful cat from filling up the void in his tummy! "MEOW!" "Calm down, Lucky!" "MEOW MEOW MEOW!" "Oh, come on! There are still lots of snacks on this ship that you can munch on! I'll grab a pile for you later!" "MEEEEEOOOW!" "No, I'm not about to replace you or anything. I just went through a transformation process that has enabled me to absorb metal substances so that I can use it to reinforce my body and produce ammunition for my foot." "..." "The point is that I don't have a high demand for metallic exotics." Ves explained to his cat. "My body doesn't have a pocket space like yours, and it can't convert all of these materials into a lot of useful upgrades either. I'm not a gem cat. You are. I'm just an evolved human that is still largely biological in nature. Is that enough?" "Meow…" Though Lucky obviously wasn't happy for being pranked, he accepted the explanation. The cat petulant landed on top of Ves' head and vowed to stick close until he received a rich meal as compensation for all of the emotional damages he suffered! 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦 "Meow meow!" Lucky impatiently smacked his tail against the rear of Ves' head. "I know, I know. Can you be a little more patient? I will go down the vault and pick up a metal from our strategic materials reserve. Will that be enough?" "Meow!"