Ves and many Larkinsons became busy after deciding to take the Design Department away with him on his journey to Yernstall and beyond. A lot of mech designers were completely caught off-guard by the announcement. Not all of them were comfortable with this move. They had spent a lot of effort settling into the Premier Fleet, but now they and any families that they might have needed to transfer to the Bluejay Fleet and settle anew. It was only after Ves announced the benefits he was willing to offer he managed to placate most of the mech designers. Being able to gain access to exclusive tech and learn how to incorporate them into their own work was a valuable benefit. As much as the Larkinson Clan tried to provide its mech designers with the best learning resources, there was only so much publicly available libraries could offer them. Only by accessing a more elaborate repository of knowledge would the Larkinson mech designers be able to enrich their capabilities and distinguish their design philosophies further. Visiting Yernstall also gave them an opportunity to go shopping at one of the most developed star systems in human-occupied space. While Bridgehead One recently overtook it by an enormous margin, it was still a nice place to acquire high-tech goodies and luxury products that were difficult to acquire elsewhere. Of course, not everyone would transfer to the Bluejay Fleet to work under Ves and Gloriana. There were enough assistant mech designers who rejected the offer to go on a long field trip and decided to stay with the Premier Fleet for whatever reason. Ves actually approved of their decision as they would be able to keep at least a part of the Design Department connected to the users of its products. This decision would inevitably split the Design Department and create greater security and coordination issues, but Ves did not consider that to be a big deal. It helped that it was not his turn to solve this problem. He pushed this headache onto Casella and Gloriana. That said, Ves could not escape every responsibility. "Since you are already making your way over there, please meet with Isobel Kotin and take her away when you arrive at the central star node." Casella requested to Ves. "My fellow ace pilot has been undergoing augmented body reconstruction and rehabilitation procedures at one of the advanced medical facilities at Yernstall. From what I have heard, the Transhumanist Faction are impressed by how quickly Isobel has been able to maintain her motivation to regain her strength and learn how to control her new body and all of its enhanced features. She actually resembles a high-ranking Cyber more than normal people at this point." That was indeed a weird coincidence. They always had the option of attempting to restore her original body, but both Isobel and the Larkinsons wanted her to become stronger and better able to defend herself against hazards in the future. Ves nodded. "I can do that, Casella. It is indeed impressive how quickly she is able to bounce back after burning her entire body in a misguided attempt to force her breakthrough attempt. She will have to wait a lot longer for her to receive her new ace mech, though. After my wife and I have completed the Riot Mark III, we will devote much of our time on both the Promethea Mark II Project and the Lionheart Mark II Project. If we don't have time to work on both, we will prioritize the former, but do not expect any quick results." Casella did not look surprised. "Take your time. I trust you on matters such as this. All of your mechs and especially high-ranking mechs have always been works of art. As long as you can guarantee that the quality of the new Promethea Mark II is no less than the other high-ranking mechs, then I do not object to delays. Just keep the timetable reasonable for Isobel's sake more than anything. Ace pilots who have gone through trauma like hers have an urgent need to prove themselves." "I know. Despite working on two ace mech design projects at the same time, my wife and I don't expect to be delayed too much. The mech designers that we are leaving behind will make use of the productive capabilities of the smart AI cores in our stead. After Gloriana has received the guidance she needs from the Resonance Smith, I expect her to become a lot more fired up than usual, which should help her complete her work faster." "I trust you to do what is good for Isobel and our clan." The Saint Commander said before changing the topic. "I know you are interested in conducting a rather extensive technology exchange with the Cybernetic Empire. What sort of technologies are you interested in exchanging? What do you think is best for our clan?" Ves took the time to sort out his thoughts on this matter. "We need to master a weapon system that is fairly accessible but can be trusted to remain effective when employed against the native aliens. This is our highest priority. If we can only obtain one type of CE tech, then this must be at the top of our list. The biggest decision we need to make is whether to invest in energy or kinetic weapons." "Do you have a preference?" "Not really." Ves shook his head. "Arguments could be made for either. Irradiator laser beam technology is not particularly efficient and will expend most of our bargaining power, but we can potentially combine it with luminar crystal technology and produce additional effects as a result." "And what if we want to go physical instead?" "Well, it depends on what kind of payment plan you can stomach. I think the Cybernetic Empire will soon start to sell manufactured Dynapulse Disruptor Missiles on a large scale in the near future. We can make sure to order a generous batch of them so long as our clan is willing to reimburse the phasewater used in making the transphasic warheads. However, so long as we do not master the manufacturing method, we will continue to remain dependent on this external supply." The ace commander crossed her arms and frowned. "That sounds like a recipe for disaster. If anything happens that causes our relationship with the Cybers to collapse, then we will cut ourselves off from a supply of Dynapulses. Is there any way we can obtain the production method of these missiles?" Ves snorted. "Not a chance. The Cybers can milk us all by constantly selling us manufactured goods. They would have to be stupid to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, but they are too smart for that. If we are able to obtain the production method sooner or later, then the rest of red humanity will find a way to get it as well. The Cybernetic Empire will seek to prevent this from happening, and the best way is to not give us anything other than missiles produced in their own munition factories." "Are you not able to reverse engineer this tech and develop your own version?" "No. Don't even think about it. Advanced products such as the Dynapulses are designed with specific factory conditions and production tech in mind. They are also so highly optimized that third parties will always suffer a loss when attempting to produce imitation products." In other words, it was simply not feasible to circumvent the many protections that the Polymath herself may have had a hand in programming! "So what is your recommendation? Do you think we should stick to ordering Dynapulses or invest in the tech that makes Irradiator laser weapons work?" "There should be more choices available than this." Ves said. "However, if we truly have to make a choice between the two, then I think that investing in the Irradiators is a good choice. I do not like for us to become dependent on the CE to supply us with weapons that can help us defeat the native aliens more effectively. The Cybers can abuse this dependency by compelling us to perform actions that go against our mission. It is better to make a heavy concession at the start in order to obtain the secrets to enhanced energy beam weapon technology." This was a rather difficult choice to make as they were operating on incomplete information. The Cybernetic Empire wanted to leave its future customers in the dark about what was truly taking place. "If you think that these special energy weapons are truly worth bargaining for, then I shall make an attempt." The Saint Commander promised. "It may take additional incentives to persuade the Cybers into giving away a core piece of technological equipment." "We control the entrance to the Blue Dimension. We are the CE's best hope of obtaining more superdimensional matter. So long as you are willing to trade a bit of high-grade superdimensional matter, I am sure the Cybers will sing a different tune." The supply of high-grade superdimensional matter was too limited for the time being. That might change once Gloriana and Ketis upgraded the Dimension Observatory in the near future, but for the time being the Larkinson Clan should be able to gain a lot of concessions by trading precious armor-grade and weapon-grade superdimensional matter in this early stage. Ves and Casella talked a bit more about further possible technological exchanges. "One of the CE techs that I must get my hands upon is their smart metal." He said. "My standards are not too high. I am already satisfied if I can get access to their three basic smart metal models. The NanoGatherers will enable me to salvage materials from the environment or the debris of broken machines. The NanoSmiths will help me build stuff. The NanoWarriors can help with defending them all at both the micro and macro level. If necessary, I can drop my demand for the latter, but that is all I can accept." The Saint Commander looked closely at Ves. "Is this a personal interest or will it serve the clan as well?" "It can be both, but I won't lie to you. I am only really invested in using it myself." Ves honestly admitted. "My Polymetal mech design project has not yet started because I judged the tech was not there yet. Now that Bridgehead One came back, I finally see good enough tech. With the help of the Polymath's work, I can design a smart metal mech that serves as a source of production as well as plain old destruction. It isn't everything that I want in a mech, but I will have to rely on it to defend myself against most threats." Ves painted a rather fantastical vision for his Polymetal mech. The central premise of this machine was to give Ves the tools to excel as a mech pilot and mech designer at the same time! "Polymetal mechs may be the best way to convert mech designers from rearline into frontline units." He claimed. "I will not be the only one to enjoy this new product of mine. I do not object to making it available to the rest of the Larkinson Clan and possibly the mass market. Most mech pilots will never be able to exploit the full potential of Polymetal mechs, but mech designers still have a chance." Casella struggled to imagine an instance where mech designers on the battlefield knew how to behave. "You expect too much from your fellow mech designers. Few have undergone more than basic training, but even if we ignore this factor, they are not true life-and-death soldiers." "I am not too certain about the utility of this smart metal Carmine mech of yours, Ves. There are many alternatives available where these workers can make themselves useful aside from scrapping and recycling broken machines." "They can do their work even faster if they all pilot machines with the new nanomachines. They can land on untouched lands and erect a small colony base before the first day has ended."