The Mech Touch

Gillian Semdam, one of the richest entrepreneurs of the Pelsa Ryndover Star System, looked grave.

He waved his bodyguards and assistants aside as he entered his penthouse office at the top floor of the headquarters of Semdam & Sons.

His teal business suit accented with purple patterns usually instilled him with a lot of confidence. After all, not every businessman could pull off his look without looking silly.

He used to wear more earthy colored outfits in the past. Back when S&S was still a smaller player, he rarely sought to attract attention to himself.

All of that changed once S&S was vaulted to the top. The market and the competition held different expectations towards the market leader of a sector. Gillian Semdam not only accomplished this transition, but also managed to avoid the fate of his predecessors by performing a careful balancing act!

Each day, he made important decisions that allowed his company to remain stable. This was not enough for Semdam & Sons to truly stay prosperous, though.

Sometimes, he needed to make bolder decisions, especially in response to new crises and changing circumstances.

A good leader needed to know what kind of decisions they needed to make at any given moment. From what he observed from his competitors, each of them eventually failed due to misjudging the situation.

Some acted too conservatively when bolder action was required. While their companies didn't collapse straight away, the decline became progressively worse to the point where it could not be stopped anymore.

Others took too many risks and overestimated their judgement. Arrogance and greed were two of the most dangerous character traits. While every successful leader had to possess both of them to some degree, the challenge was trying to keep them at moderate levels.

Those who lost touch of reality would quickly find themselves defeated by it! Whatever fantasies they spun in their mind would not help them if their company suffered enormous losses or if they crossed a line that they should have never crossed.

For a long time, Gillian Semdam constantly reminded himself of all of the possible failings that he could make. While this didn't ensure that he would be able to avoid mistakes entirely, he thought that it was enough to keep S&S in business.

Today, he was feeling a lot less certain about that. Sweat was already pouring from his brows as he slowly sat behind his large and imposing desk.

He ignored every agenda item and every other priority in order to focus on the sudden crisis that had beset his company.

Gillian let out a deep breath before he activated nearly every security and isolation setting. His office began to lock down as solid shutters slid over the windows, energy shields came to life and interference measures blocked most signals from passing through.

The only other intact connection to the rest of the galaxy was his special communication terminal.

He reached out and pressed a specific button. Soon enough, he established a connection with his latest bane.

A high-quality projection showed up in front of his desk. It displayed a woman wearing a tight black uniform with lustrous black boots. She currently sat on a sofa of all things, as if this meeting was nothing more than a sideshow to her. A remarkable bronze-like mechanical cat rested comfortably on her lap.

Her long fingers slowly massaged the mechanical cat's back, causing the animal to purr with pleasure.

"Meow~"

"Hello Mr. Semdam. I see you have received my calling card." The black-haired woman greeted him with a smile. "I believe we have much to talk about today."

Gillian Semdam stared daggers at the woman. She was responsible for the biggest fright that he had ever experienced over his 180 years of life. Not even taking over the company after his father had eventually passed on was as concerning as the crisis that had beset him out of the blue.

He would rather have his company attacked by crown terrorists than engage in a conversation with this evil woman!

"Who might I be calling?" He asked.

"You can call me Calabast." She smirked. "You can say that I am a problem solver of the Larkinson Clan. While there are plenty of clansmen in our fleet who excel at addressing different issues, the problems I have to deal with tend to require a special touch."

The head of Semdam & Sons was quite familiar with her type.

"You're a fixer. A thief. An extortionist."

The woman shook her head. "That is a crude description, Mr. Semdam. I prefer to view myself as a.. mediator."

"What is that supposed to mean, woman?"

"A mediator is exactly what you think. I mediate between parties that have differences in opinion. I do my best to make all of the parties come to an amicable agreement. The main difference with other mediators is that I am mediating on behalf of the Larkinson Clan. I am quite good at my job, isn't that right, Lucky?"

"Meow!" The cat obediently answered as he nuzzled his head under her fingers.

Gillian Semdam was not amused. "Why must we talk?"

"You should know quite well why we are holding this discussion. I believe you have already held talks with another prominent member of our clan. It is regretful that you have decided not to engage any further with Mr. Shederin Purnesse. The four capital ships that you have on offer is exactly what our clan needs to prepare for its upcoming entry into the Red Ocean."

"Those ships are not your property. They belong to Semdan & Sons, and as long as that is the case, we can sell them to anyone we damn well please! We don't need your money!"

Calabast released a chortle. "Ah, but that is where we disagree. Those ships are already ours as far as we are concerned. You are merely holding them on our behalf. Our patriarch has already set eyes on the Vivacious Wal, the Andrenidae, the Discentibus and the Blinding Banshee, and as long as that is the case, he will not allow anyone to take what belongs to us. We preferred to settle this difference with money, but your lack of sincerity in your talks with Mr. Purnesse has led me to take action in person."

When Gillian Semdam thought about what kind of action she took that resulted in the breaking and entering of all of his secret vaults, he almost wanted to shut the connection right away!

When he inspected each of his vaults in person, he discovered that a lot of assets were missing. Whoever broke into his high security stashes smuggled out his secret data chips, his crucial trade documents, his secret ledgers and even his sentimental keepsakes!

Although the head of the Semdam company could do without the latter, he and his company would suffer an incalculable amount of damage if the former leaked out to the public or just to certain people!

He would bet his competitors, who never managed to grow into a threat to Semdam & Sons, could probably use the compromising information to collapse the foundation of his company!

The threat of this awful outcome hanging over his head was the primary reason why he kept his impulses in check. He had not grown S&S to become the dominant player in the local ship market by letting his emotions make his decisions.

His face grew grimmer. He did not see the need to hide his emotions and obscure his own thoughts.

Those were more appropriate in actual negotiations, not situations like this where the other party had him over the barrel!

From what he could observe from the woman, she knew exactly what she had and what she could do. He was not dealing with someone incompetent or naive. The professionalism and control she exuded just by sitting on a sofa was enough to make him give up resorting to theatrics.

He decided to go for the direct route. The longer they held this conversation, the greater the risk that others would be able to break into this transmission.

"What do you want?" He asked. "What do we need to do to obtain your guarantee that you will not disseminate the information that you have gained?"

"Ah, you wish to come to business now. That is a refreshing change. We are already making progress!" Calabast grinned with satisfaction. "Mr. Semdam, despite what you might think, our clan has always been sincere about our dealings. Our clan is led by a mech designer and an entrepreneur that has achieved great success in the mech industry. We understand the importance of conducting mutually-beneficial deals. Our original offer stands. We are willing to pay a reasonable amount of money for you to transfer the four aforementioned capital ships in our possession."

"That's… all?" Semdam frowned.

He thought the Larkinson Clan would have asked more. While the information they managed to steal from his vaults was not fatal, they were still compromising to the point that his company could easily topple if he did not manage the crisis properly!

Calabast leaned back and made long strokes across Lucky's back. "As I said before, I am a mediator. I am merely here to solve problems, preferably for both sides. The fact that I am speaking on behalf of the Larkinson Clan does not prevent me from looking after your own interests as well. The best possible agreement we could make is where both sides win."

For a moment, Gillian Semdam seriously doubted whether the Larkinson Clan was being serious. No one would be that generous, not with the amount of leverage that he was worrying about.

However, as they continued to talk, Semdam slowly realized that the Larkinsons didn't want anything more than to purchase the relevant capital ships at a 'fair price'.

Of course, the Larkinson woman's definition of a fair price was much more in line with the previous price levels for the ships than the current inflated ones. The only concession she made was to pay S&S a slight premium to accelerate the handover and put the ships under the control of the Larkinson Clan by the end of the week.

Though the consequence of this new agreement was that S&S wouldn't earn as much money as he hoped from the precious assets, the company's finances could easily take the hit.

"I… agree." Semdam lowered his head. "My team and I will make the arrangements. The capital ships will belong to the Larkinson Clan, but you MUST give me assurances that the data that you possess must not leak out. If you have spilled information that doesn't belong to you, then I promise you that I will do everything in my power to drag your clan down!"

Even though there weren't many ways he could make the Larkinsons suffer, he had plenty of money to throw around!

It was important for him to show his determination. Otherwise, the Larkinsons might actually do what he was most afraid of and ruin everything.

"You can rest assured that we will not break our agreement with you. We have principles, you see. We will honestly abide by our new agreement and hope that both of us can walk away after we both have what we want from each other."

"I hope your promises are more honest than your conduct, woman."

"In turn, I hope that you and your ship handlers will not tamper with the ships that will soon become ours." Calabast added. "Don't even think about trying anything. We have many specialists and engineers in our ranks that can quickly detect any improprieties. We even have an entire shipbuilding team on hand that can determine whether you have compromised the designs of the capital ships."

Semdam grew a bit angry. "All of our products are independently certified by several reputable galactic institutions! When it comes to the trustworthiness of our brand, we do not make any jokes!"

Calabast laughed. "Hahaha! That's funny, because from what I have perused from the data that I have sampled, it seems your company has been less than honest in some instances. We know all of your tricks. We will be watching. Do not make another mistake. Goodbye, Mr. Semdam."

The projection disappeared, leaving the businessman alone in his office.