The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

In general, any upgrades to the Larkinson Fleet had to wait until after Ves concluded his excursion into the Nyxian Gap.

The release of the Doom Guard had already proved that Ves possessed amazing earning potential. While there were better-performing mech designs on the market, none of them could replicable the sheer utility provided by his glows!

As long as he did a good job at realizing amazing design concepts, Ves believed he could sustain his success. Even if his subsequent mech designs only achieved a quarter of the sales of the Doom Guard, that still constituted a success!

The Larkinson Clan had become stronger than it had ever been. With thousands of mechs at its disposal, the clan had reached a strength comparable to a military mech regiment.

This was quite remarkable! Not every mech designer was able to fund the establishment of such a formidable combat group. Ves was quite blessed in that regard. Other mech designers, from tiny Novices to notable Seniors, had to compete against other rivals and price their products accordingly.

Ves was spared from doing so, to a large extent. While he still had to take the competition into account, the fact that his products were so unique that they could form their own market category was an enduring advantage. The margins for all of his recent mechs likely made every other Journeyman and even Senior jealous!

The high margins also allowed the LMC to pursue a strategy of outsourcing production to third-party manufacturers and entering as many foreign markets as possible.

It was very onerous and costly to conduct business in so many foreign states with nothing but some branch offices to manage them all. Screw ups happened every day and the further from the headquarters, the more tenuous it became to maintain control.

Fortunately, the LMC's headquarters had developed quite well. Hiring notable managers and talents from the Bright Republic, Ylvaine Protectorate and Sentinel Kingdom had continuously increased HQ's capability to meet these growing challenges.

These days, Ves didn't even bother to review any reports about mundane issues such as inconsistent quality output or breach of contract. He had better things to do with his time than to take note of problems that his managers and executives could take care of by themselves.

With the rapid expansion of the LMC and the increasing level of competence of its upper management, the roles of some people started to change.

Some of the figures that Ves was familiar with slowly made way for other people.

Calsie Doornbos-Larkinson Was one of them. As one of his earliest employees, Ves had entrusted her with a lot of responsibility, far more than a woman of her age and experience should hold.

However, with the establishment of the Larkinson Clan, Ves was able to extend a lot more trust to every member of his circle. This diminished her role until she felt she wasn't of much use anymore in the LMC.

Through Gavin, she was able to meet with Ves in order to explain her predicament.

"I see." Ves folded his hands while Lucky playfully gnawed at a chunk of mineral on his desk. "I truly value your loyalty. Being able to trust someone and be rewarded by it has been very helpful to me. You're better than your fellow Cloudy Curtainer in that regard."

He was obviously referring to Gavin, who shifted uncomfortably as his boss brought up his original sin yet again.

"My role these days isn't as good as Gavin's." She calmly spoke. "He serves as your link to your company, while I am basically reduced to watching more qualified executives do their work."

"You want to do something useful then, correct?"

"I want to earn my keep!" She placed her hand on her chest. "I put my heart in the LMC as well as everyone else who stuck with you from the beginning. I have kept up with my studies and continuously invested in myself in order to keep up with what is going on as best as possible. It is my hope that I can do something meaningful."

"Hmmm.." Though Ves empathized with her desire, to be honest he didn't even know how his company was run these days. Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson was in charge, and so far Ves heard nothing but good things about the old man. "Benny, perhaps you could suggest something. What position can Calsie fulfill that is within her range of competence?"

Gavin blinked, not expecting that Ves would freely solicit his input. "Uhm, while it's true that the LMC is being very well run these days, that only applies to the headquarters. The management of the branch offices can be.. less than stellar most of the times. It's mostly due to distance. Our headquarters can't exert strong control over the branches, and it will only grow worse in the event we eventually depart from this star sector."

This was a looming problem for the LMC.

"What do you suggest?" Ves asked, already suspecting that his assistant had something to say about this conundrum.

"Several proposals have emerged. Personally, I think one of them in particular is quite good as long as you are willing to invest a bit." Gavin carefully spoke. "The main issue is the lack of loyalty from the directors of the branch offices. They're mostly hired remotely. Though we make sure to vet them through a talent management company or the like, people tend to change, especially if they are suddenly in charge of cash flows that can reach hundreds of millions of hex credits."

Ves immediately frowned. "Are people skimming off the top of those cash flows?!"

"It has happened."

"That's my money! Without my mechs, those greedy traitors would never even come close to so much money!"

"That's why we should develop an effective solution to this problem as quickly as possible."

"What is your suggestion, then?"

"A Bright Warrior."

Ves blinked. "Explain."

"We should ship a Bright Warrior to every branch office, or barring that, rotate it around." Gavin spoke. "We can use it to induct the directors and any other employee worth retaining into the clan! Once they're a part of the Larkinson Clan, they will be much less likely to abuse their power!"

That.. was a good idea. It was also a very troublesome one. Lending the Bright Warrior for this venture was a very risky prospect. It was a design exclusive to the Larkinson Clan and Ves did NOT wish for it to fall into anyone else's hands!

Ves shook his head. "I can't risk any of my Bright Warriors falling into the hands of my enemies. I won't send any of them to my branch offices. While I understand the purpose of your suggestion, I can't provide the same level of care and attention to Larkinsons who will eventually be left behind once we embark on our grand expedition."

"If a Bright Warrior doesn't work, then perhaps something smaller!" Calsie suddenly suggested. "You attached a glow to other objects such as one of your outfits and that new statue you made, right? Why not add the same glow of the Bright Warrior to a small and convenient medallion and hand that out to the branch offices instead? Even if it's stolen, there's no harm. Smaller objects are very easy to secure and you can even integrate a self-destruct mechanism if you are really afraid they'll end up in the wrong hands."

Her suggestion excited Gavin. "That's a great idea, Calsie! Aside from this, we don't have to promise the same treatment to the people manning our branch offices. We can treat them as half-members and categorize them as lesser Larkinsons."

That did not sit well with Ves. He frowned deeply. "One of the core tenets of the Larkinson Clan is that every clansman is family."

"Look, I get it. You don't want to turn any inconsequential people into clansmen. You don't have to, boss. We can just promise to pay them well and give them some more benefits in exchange for pledging their loyalty to us. The directors and core personnel we choose to run the branches mostly aren't interested in abandoning their cozy lives in their home states. The pay and benefits we promise already puts them ahead of nearly anyone else at their location. They'll be grateful to receive this opportunity. It's similar to hiring retainers in that regard."

The comparison to retainers made the suggestion more reasonable. Ves began to look thoughtful.

"I can see how that might work. I can make these medallions and allow them to be dispatched to the different branches." He said after a pause. "Calsie, do you want to manage this operation?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'd be glad to, sir."

"Then you have my blessing."

They soon began to discuss some details. Ves left it to others to determine the exact benefits and obligations that came with becoming a retainer to the Larkinson Clan. He already decided to treat them as disposable but trustworthy external employees. Even if Ves added them to the Larkinson Network, he needed to make sure they didn't get the full treatment.

Only genuine Larkinson clansmen were entitled to this treatment.

It didn't take very long to set matters up. Ves dismissed Gavin and Calsie and spent some time to design the so-called Loyalty Medallions. He basically recycled the medallion that depicted the head of the Golden Cat on the Larkinson Mandate but added some extras.

He incorporated a tracker, a comm and more importantly a self-destruct mechanism in the design of the medallion. He made sure to impart it with a spiritual foundation that was conducive to the Golden Cat in order to contain her glow.

Since he was doing a rush job, its glow would never be able to match the presence of the Bright Warrior.

"It doesn't have to." Ves muttered. "If a medallion is radiating a glow at full strength, then it'll affect an entire office building!"

It was enough to make people in the same room or office feel the distinct aura associated with the Larkinsons.

Compared to designing the medallion, it was a lot harder for him to set up the spiritual functionality of its use. Ves had to convey his intentions to the Golden Cat in order to set up a separate tier of access for retainers in the Larkinson Network.

Just explaining the concept of retainers and separate tiers and justifying their existence took a lot of effort!

Fortunately, the Golden Cat was very obedient, and quickly went to work once she understood and agreed with his suggestions.

After a quick session at his lab, Ves expended a very modest amount of Breyer alloy and some miscellaneous materials to produce a batch of loyalty medallions.

Due to the relative simplicity of their design and their very manageable sizes, Ves had been able to produce hundreds of them at a time!

There was no way he would bother with making them by hand. They weren't worth the effort. The glows of the mass-produced medallions were already sufficient enough to perform their intended purpose, and that was all that mattered.

Once he packaged them all up in a floating crate and delivered it to Calsie, she reacted with awe as she inspected the goods.

She picked up one of the thick, hand-sized medallions and felt its heft and weight. "These will do very nicely as long as they work, sir! Even if our fleet departs this star sector, we can still rely on the retainers we have left behind to do their job properly!"

"Mind you, only a Larkinson clansman or a retainer can make use of this medallion." He warned. "If there aren't any retainers in a state, you'll have to dispatch a retainer stationed elsewhere to make use of it. Have you come up with a plan?"

Calsie grinned as she carefully put back the medallion in the crate. "Yes. Aside from entrusting the medallions to the branch directors, I am already working on a proposal to set up a sector headquarters that can manage all of the branches and address the situation that you have described."

"Good idea. Tell Raymond to work with you on that. Make sure to set everything up correctly the first time around. Hopefully, we can use these measures to ensure the LMC's continued market presence in the star sectors we are leaving behind."

The use of loyalty medallions wasn't a guarantee that nothing would go wrong. Ves merely hoped it would reduce the problems related to the disconnect between the branch offices and the roving headquarters of the LMC.

The Komodo Star Sector was his home and the first market that embraced his distinctive products. He owed it to his local customers to continue to meet their needs as best as possible even if Ves departed for greener pastures.

However, there was one glaring problem that might hinder this commitment. The range problem. Every mech designer below Journeyman could only exert their specialty onto their products within a limited range.

Though that still encompassed a lot of light-years, on a galactic scale that was not a lot!