Since Ves wanted to equip the Ghost Project with a high-end transphasic stealth system, preferably one made out of the salvaged first-class materials that his clan still had in stock, he could not develop one from scratch. Not even his recent improvements in the understanding of both active stealth systems and phasewater technology allowed him to develop a cloaking solution that was up to standard! He glanced at a projection that listed the specifications of the Arcan & Bolt Racca RLT3 Transphasic Stealth System that he had selected at the start of the design project. "This doesn't cut it anymore." He muttered as he swiped the projection away in disgust. "I need to obtain a higher-end product." This was not easy. Stealth systems were inherently sensitive. Their effectiveness could best be guaranteed if they circulated as little as possible. For that reason, a lot of developers who worked on stealth systems tended to work directly for states and other large organizations. They rarely released their products on the market as that would give the enemies of their current clients working examples that could be cracked and deciphered far sooner than they should! Numerous large and powerful clients paid great sums of money in order to make sure that the relevant development companies remained discrete. The latter rarely had any desire to break this cozy arrangement and seek external customers for their stealth-oriented work. Fortunately for Ves, exceptions always existed. It was mostly the new and innovative upstarts as well as the struggling companies in decline that opened up their business to new clients. There were many risks and downsides to working with shabbier developers, but it was not as if the Larkinson Clan had any better options. All of the recent successes and reputation boosts would do wonders in opening up new business opportunities with small-to-medium enterprises, but the benefits they provided had clear limits. What Ves truly needed was for his clan to break into the upper circles of frontier society. The new aristocrats and rulers who dreamt about founding their own states were the true movers and shakers in the Red Ocean. These bigshots reserved all of the best goods for themselves. Essentially, anything that managed to enter the market were usually not good enough by their standards. "This is going to be an issue." He frowned. It was unlikely for him to be able to gain access to the premier, cutting-edge, military-grade stealth products that the best development companies in Davute reserved for the local giants. He would have to make use of his network and enlist the aid of his various friends and business partners to see whether he could obtain a useful referral. Of course, Ves could easily skip all of this trouble and obtain the rights to use a powerful active stealth system if he knocked on the doors of the MTA. That would probably require him to spend a lot of MTA merits, however. He already allocated so much spending that he was reluctant to pay more for tech that he should be able to obtain in exchange for normal remuneration! "Don't spend merits when I can obtain what I need with credits." Ves reminded himself of this essential rule. Earning gigantic sums of MTA merits made it all too easy for him to lose sight of how difficult and dangerous it was to earn them in the first place. It was incredibly tempting for Ves to solve many of the problems he encountered by spending 10,000 MTA merits here and 100,000 MTA merits there. The Association had so many goods and services on offer that he would soon be down 20 million MTA merits or more if he slipped up and gave in to temptation! Ves vigorously shook his head in order to clear his thoughts. "There is no immediate hurry to implement an active stealth system to the Ghost Project. Much of its internal architecture is still incomplete, so I have plenty of other work to do. I can wait until I have found a suitable business partner that can supply me with a high-tech product that meets my criteria." As his work on the Ghost Project continued, the other lead designers of the Larkinson Clan made brisk progress as well. Although the expert mech design projects all had to be revised mid-way in order to take advantage of the large and varied stock of salvaged first-class materials, the standard mech design projects encountered no such hindrance. Many of them such as the Eye Project and the Samurai Project were meant to produce standard mech designs that needed to be affordable. Once the Larkinson Clan obtained more batches of first-class materials, it may be interesting to develop quasi-first-class variants of their ordinary Larkinson-exclusive mech models, but Ves was in no hurry. He much preferred his fellow mech designers to finish what they started before pursuing any new ideas. As time continued to pass by, the Larkinsons achieved a lot of progress in other areas. As Ves began to feel his highly inflamed state beginning to wane, he regained his interest into other initiatives that were relevant to himself and his clan. The biggest issue aside from his projects that concerned him was the ongoing effort to screen and select suitable candidates to expand the Golden Skull Alliance. Though face-to-face meetings were not yet possible, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had managed to make substantial progress in exploring the viability of bringing the Adelaides and the Boojays into the fold! "Everything is going well on our end." Minister Shederin Purnesse calmly reported to the patriarch. "Both us and the other two parties have more than enough willingness to work together, so no one is playing hardball. The main reason why it will still take months to settle our terms is because of the size and complexity of our respective organizations. The more profound the changes, the more issues we need to settle in advance. Thorough planning and negotiation can spare us a great amount of future pain." Ves waved his hand. "I understand. I am not being too impatient. As you have said, since both sides of the negotiation table want to combine forces, we will get it done sooner or later, barring any unpleasant revelations. Calabast?" The spymaster who attended the meeting as well began her report. "We are still in the process of digging deeper into the history and background of the Adelaide Mercenary Company and the Boojay Family, but so far we have yet to find any immediate points of concern." It was essential to conduct extensive background checks on the people and organizations that Ves might trust his back to one day. He transferred 10,000 MTA credits to the Black Cats solely for the purpose of digging as deep into the history of two familiar candidates as possible. "As you know, it is much more difficult for us to explore the origins of the Adelaides and Boojays." Calabast reported. "None of my Black Cats can travel back to the old galaxy and transit to the star clusters they used to operate before becoming pioneering organizations. My subordinates had to rely on second-hand and third-hand information, many times procured through local middle-men, in order to collect information that goes deeper than what is obvious on the surface." All of that cost a lot of money, but the Larkinson Clan still had plenty to spare due to all of the plunder it received as of late. If not for the fact that Ves wanted his clan to digest as much of the high-quality salvage as possible, it would be easy to earn millions of MTA credits on the open market! This was a reflection of the high-risk, high-reward approach of going on expeditions. Far too many pioneers were too afraid of the risks to dare stepping out of a safe star system like Davute. There was no way they could get their hands on valuable salvage with as much ease as the Golden Skull Alliance! Although 10,000 MTA credits did not amount to a massive sum to the Larkinson Clan these days, it was still a fortune in many second-rate states in the old galaxy! The Black Cats managed to learn quite a few secrets after paying enough bribes! "Let's start with the Adelaides." Calabast said as she projected a map of the old galaxy that highlighted a specific star cluster. "The Adelaide Mercenary Company's roots lie within a second-rate state in the galactic heartland. It used to be a mech regiment that participated in a losing war. Suffice to say, the state not only lost the war, but got carved up, thereby ceasing to exist. This left a lot of traumatized and disillusioned in the lurch. The mech regiment in question was one of many who utilized whatever starships they had left to pick up what family they could and quickly run away before someone tries to reclaim their mechs and starships." "Hm, so they started out as defeated soldiers." Ves hummed. "That explains how professional they are. Tell me more." "Since the soldiers not only lost their state, but also their belief in military service, they thought it was best to work for themselves. They founded the Adelaide Mercenary Company and started to hire themselves out to anyone willing and able to pay for a core of highly skilled, battle-tested war veterans. Though the Adelaide mechs were a bit worn at the start, they were still more than strong enough to beat softer mercenary outfits in battle." The Adelaides slowly regained their footing by completing numerous mercenary missions. The problem was that they failed to earn enough money to cover their heavy expenditures. Ves nodded in understanding when he heard this. "A military mech regiment generally demands a lot of upkeep. States have higher standards and their large tax bases allow them to pay more attention to quality rather than maximizing the cost effectiveness of their mech units." "Well, the Adelaides figured out that they were going deeper into debt. They urgently needed to reverse this trend, and they eventually found a way to do so by accepting a different type of mercenary contract that is much more dangerous but also a lot more lucrative." "And that is...?" "War contracts." Calabast answered. "When states under war need extra help but lack the military mech units to do certain jobs, they are not entirely opposed to the idea of hiring mercenaries. Of course, states must be highly discerning about the selection of mercenary outfits and the missions they will have to perform. Still, war is an activity that the Adelaides were highly familiar with, so they felt right at home when they started to complete these lucrative missions." Ves found this rather ironic. "The Adelaides became homeless because of war, but also found their salvation in war." "It is not as bad as it sounds. The Adelaides did not fight on the frontline alongside strangers for a cause that did not involve the mercenaries. Instead, the war contracts they accepted in their early history mostly amounted to second-line or rear-line assignments. Think about protecting a vulnerable industrial planet in the rear, or occupying an enemy planet that has recently been conquered and just been pacified. Occasionally, war contracts also involve raiding shipping lines or harassing the underdefended provinces of an opposing state. By letting mercenaries take care of these lesser jobs, a mech military can concentrate all of its crack troops on the more essential missions." "I see. That can be a good arrangement as long as the mercenaries don't screw up." Ves thoughtfully spoke. "I take it that the Adelaides didn't exactly keep their records clean during these missions. War zones can become incredibly chaotic, and soldiers can lose their scruples in the heat of the moment." Calabast nodded in confirmation. "That is exactly what happened on a number of these missions. Their inherent risk means that the Adelaide Mercenary Company could not avoid setbacks and losses. There were situations where the Adelaides lost their cool and committed actions that they regretted in hindsights. Some are so egregious that they can even be classified as war crimes!" Any mercenary who remained in the business long enough eventually became stained by the filth of the job. It was impossible for a long-running mercenary company to remain squeaky clean!