Many events took place shortly after the expeditionary fleet returned to Davute. The Larkinsons serving aboard the fleet started to enjoy their shore leave in shifts. The Davute System continued to attract more and more traffic from every direction as my people wanted to participate in the historic process of founding of a promising new colonial state. Many mercenary outfits and mercenary regiments signed lucrative contacts with the colonial administrations and began to prepare for war. They recruited more reserve personnel, they purchased more mechs, they stocked up on supplies and they even started to consolidate to an extent. Today's mercenaries would become tomorrow's soldiers. At least, that was supposed to be the idea. The powers that be accumulated a large war chest before they ever set foot in the Red Ocean. They anticipated the need to invest in a powerful military coalition and had already begun to increase their spending in the last few years. However, it was only now that Davute truly opened up its coffers! Colonial envoys approached thousands of different mercenary companies and private organizations with sizable mech forces with tailored offers that were certain to make them move! While the preparations to found a colonial state and build up a sizable mech horde that would become numerous to compete against the rival hordes formed by Karlach, a surprisingly large group of people pay attention to the arrival of a certain fleet. Many different parties reacted in different ways to the momentary return of the famed and glorious expeditionary fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance! It couldn't be helped. The expeditionary fleet had accomplished a lot of astonishing feats as of late, such as destroying alien warships, killing phase whales, rescuing a first-class pioneer and earning an immense award from the MTA! Not only that, but the Larkinson Clan and the Cross Clan had both expanded their presence in the local economy. The branches that these clans had set up became increasingly more visible to a growing number of Davutans. Tristan Wesseling looked out of the window and gazed in the direction of Industrial District 2. A part of him felt tempted to seek out his old friend once again, but… the differences in status between the two had grown even wider than before. Tristan had no right to stand on equal ground with Ves at this time. "You have earned more MTA merits in a few months than I would ever be able to earn in a century." Tristan sighed as he stood with his arms folded behind his back. The differences became even more magnified when he compared the Larkinson Clan's large and famous Cat Nest to his modest design lab that he had barely been able to afford. After Tristan successfully made contact with Ves and convinced him to attack Pima Prime with the Hex Army, the balance of power in the Friday Coalition had changed. The Gauge Dynasty had to rein in much of its unbridled ambitions, allowing the Carnegie Group, the Vermeer Group and the other smaller coalition partners to breathe easier. None of that truly mattered to Tristan though as he had become so disgusted by all of the killing that he had indirectly caused. He could no longer in good conscience maintain his loyalty to a rotted coalition, so he had renounced his Fridayman citizenship and successfully applied to become a citizen of Davute. With the help of the reward and hush money that the primary beneficiaries of the Battle of Pima Prime advanced to his bank account, Tristan bought a small plot of land and built his own design lab and workshop in order to start his independent mech design career on this booming planet. Of course, Tristan had no chance of building his workplace next to the Cat Nest because Industrial District 2 had long become filled with construction. In order to reserve enough money to purchase the expensive and frankly overpriced second-class lab and workshop equipment that his new mech company needed, Tristan had been forced to divert all the way towards Industrial District 12 that was situated all the way in the outskirts of Kotor City. The high number already said much about the relatively new district's land value, priority, public service quality and proximity to the city core. "At least this is mine." Tristan said with a touch of affection as his fingers brushed the surface of the window of his own workplace. It was not easy to run a new startup in a highly competitive mech market like Davute. Larger players such as the Living Mech Corporation and the branches of other mech companies that possessed strong foundations in the old galaxy immediately dominated the mech market. They made excellent use of their first-mover advantages to claim market share in advance and also dominated the supply side of the sector by signing exclusive contracts with scarce and picky material providers. Most independent mech designers couldn't even get started in Davute because there was no demand for their shabby works and not enough access to affordable raw materials! This was why Tristan Design Services mostly stuck to offering miscellaneous design work in the first year of its operation. Tristan knew he needed to build his mech company step by step. His mech company had no reputation or brand awareness at all, and his design skills weren't anything impressive compared to the likes of his old friend or the many ambitious Masters and Seniors who fought for market share with tooth and nail! Instead, he relied on his certified apprenticeship with Master Katzenberg to offer specialized design services to the mech companies that needed immediate assistance to solve certain problems. It was hard to persuade different companies to accept his services, but once Tristan successfully completed a few commissions, word of mouth began to spread throughout Industrial District 12. Right now, Tristan Design Services received enough commissions to pay the bills, but not much more. Tristan couldn't even think about designing original mechs anytime soon! He needed to spend all of his time on completing commissions relating to finding adequate substitutions of materials in different mech designs and other equipment designs. "Master Katzenberg's lessons are really coming in handy these days." Tristan smirked. Despite the fact that he was 'just' a Journeyman, he had learned the core theories of Master Katzenberg's specialization. Finding ways to replicate the effects of exotics by forming combinations of cheaper and more accessible materials was her bread and butter, and Tristan had learned much of the essence of her methods! The demand for such services was already high in the old galaxy. The desire to cut costs and simplify logistics constantly drove mech designers and mech companies to seek out ways to produce more mechs at lower prices. However, it turned out that the industry circumstances in the Red Ocean were much more favorable! Countless industrial companies who thought they could reuse their existing designs from the old galaxy and produce the same products in the new frontier immediately encountered all kinds of material constraints! The supply of low-quality materials had become more abundant as of late, but incoming shipments of high-quality exotics continued to remain frustratingly scarce! As such, many companies who experienced difficulties in securing enough raw materials to produce their goods urgently needed to fix this problem. The best way to do so was to reduce their dependence on high-quality exotics by increasing their usage of low-quality materials, preferably without reducing the performance of their products in the process! This was difficult, but not impossible. If Master Katzenberg set up shop in the Red Ocean, she would probably earn a fortune from all of the high-paying commissions she would receive! "I bet she will arrive in the Red Ocean sooner or later. Her skills are wasted in the Milky Way." Though Tristan was nowhere near as effective as his Master, he was better at it than many older and more knowledgeable mech designers who did not specialize in this specific field of materials science. Although Tristan did not delude himself into thinking that Senior and Masters were unable to do the same, none of them were willing to spend their valuable time on this tedious work. If their design teams couldn't efficiently complete this kind of task in a short enough time frame, then Tristan Design Services could easily handle these problems on their behalf! So far, the commissions that Tristan completed were relatively simple issues related to low-end mechs, but it was a start. Once Tristan earned more trust and recognition from the local sector, he was sure he would be able to attract more lucrative commissions. The former Fridaymen relied on this service to carve out a place in Davute's fast-growing mech industry. Though there was still a long way to go before his mech company could start selling actual mech designs or mechs, he was still better off than the vast majority of independent mech designers who never managed to get off the ground in the first place. Still, as much as he was confident that his Master's teachings would help him soar in a dwarf galaxy where there should be a high demand on his services, Tristan still lacked the confidence that he would ever catch up to his old friend. As a well-educated mech designer, he knew it was harmful to compare himself to his better peers all of the time. Yet Tristan couldn't help but do so every day. Had he made the right decision to settle in Davute and stay in close proximity to a large production complex owned by his old friend? He soon stopped his musings and prepared to handle the work assignments for today. He also needed to hand out new instructions to the growing team of Novices and Apprentices on his payroll. However, just as he was about to get to work, his secretary bot notified him that an unexpected guest had arrived at his design studio unannounced. Tristan's expression immediately turned grave when he learned who visited him. "Bring our esteemed visitor up to my office." It only took a short moment for a woman wearing an impeccable blazer and pencil skirt to pass through the door. Tristan immediately put on a low posture and humbly greeted the new arrival. "Miss Kernsk, welcome to my humble design studio. Forgive me for not preparing the appropriate refreshments. We did not expect someone of your importance to visit my humble office." The female visitor stopped and did not show any emotion. "Dispense with the pleasantries. I have come for one purpose only. My direct superior requires your input on the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan. We need as much information as you can tell us about him. We have learned that you happen to have known him during the time when the two of you were still residing in the Komodo Star Sector." Tristan knew there was only one superior that Reina Kernsk answered to. She was publicly known as the chief of staff of the man who was rumored to have won the secret competition to become the first head of state of the future colonial state centered around Davute! For someone of her import to undertake this chore in person already revealed how much Davute's upcoming ruler valued Ves Larkinson! Though Tristan was obviously afraid of getting on the bad side of such a powerful figure, that didn't mean he was ready to sell out his old friend! "Multiple people have tried to pry out Ves Larkinson's secrets from my mouth. They never succeeded. I may have abandoned my identity as a Fridayman, but I am still an alumni of Master Meredith Katzenberg. The local community of mech designers will not react positively if it becomes known that the upcoming head of Davute has employed coercion on one of their colleagues to force out secrets of another of their kind." "You misunderstand." Reina Kernsk shook her head. "We are not looking to do anything untoward. The Larkinson Clan and its brilliant leader is a valued asset and business partner of our planet and our future state. We merely want to gather general information about his personality, his behavior, his likes and his dislikes in order to build a more accurate personality matrix on him. This way, we can ensure that our upcoming talks with him will proceed more pleasantly than before." "Oh. That… is not as problematic. That said, I don't want to put my friend at a disadvantage. I am sorry, Miss Kernsk, but I truly do not wish to say anything about Ves behind his back." The woman did not show any irritation at his response. Instead, she pulled out a small data pad from her suit pocket and placed it on Tristan's desk. "Please take a moment to read through this document before you make a decision." Though Tristan resolved to stick to his principles and reveal nothing about Ves no matter how innocent his remarks may be, his eyes almost shot out of his sockets when he read how much MTA credits and other benefits the colonial administration was willing to pay! "We value your mech company, Mr. Wesseling. We are willing to provide you with a grant to help you become an established contributor to our growing industries. Are you interested in hearing more?" The former Fridayman's resolve quickly evaporated. "...Well, if you put it that way… I guess I can tell you my shallow impressions of Ves. I am not a close friend of his, but I hope my comments may be useful." Reina Kernsk finally showed emotion and grinned after hearing this response. "Perfect."