The Mech Touch

"Welcome back, boss."

"Mmhmm."

Ves had reached his mental limit by the time that he returned to his suite at the local branch headquarters of the Larkinson Clan.

Exhaustion radiated from his body as he sat down on a couch like an old man who had returned from a long day of work.

"Meow meow meow..."

Lucky meanwhile dug into the bowl of high-grade exotics that Gavin had especially prepared as an evening snack. The cat had already eaten several meals before, but his hunger remained unabated as it took a surprising amount of energy and resources to repair his damaged archemetal body.

That, or the cat simply took advantage of this opportunity to scam more food out of Ves.

Before Ves addressed his assistant, he activated the room projector and tuned in on a random news broadcast.

[...The Destroyer of Worlds has made an unexpected appearance in Bortele III. She took action to save one of the latest and most unusual tier 3 galactic citizens of the Red Ocean Union. It still remains unclear why the Rubarthan god pilot personally saw fit to foil an assassination attempt on Professor Ves Larkinson. Her spokespeople have yet to publish a statement nor respond to any of our inquiries. In lieu of further information, our panel of experts stand ready to speculate on whether there is an undisclosed connection between the god pilot and the Senior Mech Designer...]

[...Sales of LMC products have spiked yet again as a much greater body of consumers became exposed to them. The involvement of the Destroyer of Worlds has placed a much stronger spotlight on the mech designer that earned her protection...]

[...CATS ARE TAKING OVER OUR CIVILIZATION! I TOLD YOU THAT A SECRET CABAL OF CATS HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO UPLIFT THEMSELVES. NOW, THEIR PLAN HAS FINALLY REACHED A NEW PHASE. ONCE THESE KNOWN CAT LOVERS JOIN FORCES, THEY SHALL UNLEASH A FORCE UNLIKE ANYTHING WE HAVE SEEN BEFORE! BY THE TIME THEIR RAMPAGE COMES TO AN END, THE CATS WILL COME AND SUBJUGATE US UNDER TYRANNICAL REIGN!...]

Ves continued to switch channels over the next few minutes. Though the reporting and the opinions espoused by the journalists did not fully reflect everyone's opinion, he was able to gain a broad understanding of what the public thought about the events that happened today.

"It looks like the failed assassination attempt has crowded out every other newsworthy event." He concluded. "It's a shame that none of the news portals place any special emphasis on the process and the outcome of the challenge matches. The four matches were truly exciting and worthwhile to watch."

Gavin chuckled for a bit. "We have tried to use our channels in the media to shift as much attention to our products as possible, but all everyone wants to talk about is the Destroyer of Worlds saving the day once again. It is fine, though. You cannot imagine how much she has helped our business. Any association with a god pilot is a dream come true for a mech company. More people have become exposed to the Fey Fianna than ever. We have already received a lot of orders, and we expect this temporary boost to last for the remainder of the week. That is not the greatest change, however."

"Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrow. "What is making you so excited?"

"Don't you realize it, boss? We have gained a huge amount of legitimacy. It is not every day that a god pilot diverts her precious time to foil an attempt on your life. Few people think that it is just a coincidence that she was in the neighborhood and just happened to be in a place to act as your secret guard. No matter whether she has said anything or not, it is clear that she is supportive of you. This is the most direct form of endorsement that you have received from a tier 1 galactic citizen yet. Your ties to other god pilots and Star Designers are much less clear, so we never managed to profit from them as much as we wished. This is different."

"What difference does that make?"

"People are much more inclined to believe in the claims and promises related to the Fey Fianna. You have to be aware that there are many people who do not have the time or interest to watch your presentation and the subsequent challenge matches. All they know about the Fey Fianna are boasts that sound wildly exaggerated. Those descriptions have become a lot more legit now that a god pilot is indirectly backing you up. That alone will help us sustain our sales momentum over months or maybe years."

That certainly sounded like a powerful effect. Unfortunately, Ves was not entirely sure whether the LMC could take proper advantage of this boost.

"All of the increased orders won't mean anything for our bottom line if our production has already reached its limit. From what I have heard, all of our mech factories are working at full capacity." He sighed.

Gavin had a surprise for Ves.

"You are underestimating the effect of receiving the implicit endorsement of a god pilot. One of the biggest reasons why we have been slow to expand our production capacity and contract more third-party mech manufacturers is because we have played out our reputation. This has changed now that the Destroyer of Worlds has bestowed us with her vote of confidence. A whole new group of large and powerful organizations has initiated contact with us, particularly ones based in the Rubarthan Pact. Many of these parties are eager to cooperate with us. Few of them have maintained their condescending attitude towards a smaller player such as us. After all, who knows whether you will badmouth them in front of the god pilot one day. As long as we carefully manage our new relationships, we can quickly shorten the waiting list for our latest product."

The Fey Fianna had proven its strength and capabilities enough times to win over a lot of people. The popularity of the LMC's first proper product line of the Hyper Generation had become so high that demand vastly exceeded supply.

Anything that could help the LMC increase the ability to fulfill orders was necessary as far as Ves was concerned!

The longer his customers had to wait, the longer they spent time without the powerful living mechs that could save their lives and grow alongside their mech pilots.

What Ves feared the most was that the excessive delays would cause customers to become frustrated and cancel their orders. There were many other hyper mechs for sale that did not require a year of waiting before it could be delivered to people's doorsteps!

Gavin presented an offer that stood out from all of the rest.

"There is one company that has made many of the executives in the company excited. The offer that we have received from this party is not the most lucrative, nor the largest in scale, but it scores high enough in both areas that it would be a dereliction of our duty to put it aside. What is also important is that the offer is highly credible and has a high likelihood of relieving our production bottlenecks in both the short and medium term."

That certainly aroused Ves' attention.

"Tell me more about this company."

"Isthmus Manufacturing is a serious player in the galactic mech market. It is based in the Rubarthan Pact and is a middle-sized player in the mech market over there. That is already impressive in itself considering that it has to compete against many other powerful Rubarthan mech manufacturers."

Ves briefly furrowed his brows. "Does the company have any prominent mech designers?"

"Surprisingly, no. While the company definitely employs a large amount of mech designers, Isthmus Manufacturing is not a strong brand name in itself. Its first-party products are relatively unremarkable. The real focus is on the production of products developed by other mech designers. The company takes advantage of its excellent connections with suppliers and shipping companies to produce a relatively limited selection of high-volume, high-margin mech models at a lower overall cost."

Ves grew more attentive. A mech manufacturer that could produce large quantities of mechs while keeping its costs under control was exactly what the LMC sought!

"I see. Are the mechs produced and sold by Isthmus cheaper than the competition?"

"That is not necessarily the case. The reason why Isthmus only agrees to produce highly popular bestsellers is because it wants to keep milking its cash cows for years to come without engaging in a price to the bottom. The value in partnering up with this Rubarthan mech manufacturing company is in its ability to consistently maintain large production volumes. Not only does it have a large amount of highly efficient and reliable first-class and second-class product lines at its disposal, but it has secured long-term contracts with enough material suppliers to keep them running."

This meant that if the LMC agreed to work with Isthmus, the latter company won't necessarily be cheap, but it would definitely be able to fulfill many orders that would otherwise be languishing on the increasingly more excessive waiting list!

Ves was not greedy. He did not mind if Isthmus Manufacturing wanted to receive a large cut of the profits. That was its right as a third-party producer. What truly mattered was how much production it was willing to devote to the Fey Fianna line.

"How much production can Isthmus Manufacturing handle?"

Gavin grinned wider. "Let me put it this way. If we sign a contract by the end of the week, the representatives of Isthmus have promised that they can muster up enough production capacity to fulfill half of all Standard Fey Fianna orders on our waiting list by the end of the month."

Half of all of the orders of the new Standard Edition of the Fey Fianna?!

That was hundreds of thousands of copies of the new second-class hyper drone mech design!

"I take it that is not the limit." Ves guessed.

"This cooperation offer has come at the right time. We are still in the early stage of the Hyper Generation. Isthmus Manufacturing has already agreed to produce large quantities of second-class hyper mechs for other clients, but none of these models are expected to last very long. The application of hyper technology is too crude in comparison to your latest work. If the demand for the Fey Fianna continues to rise, Isthmus is more than willing to drop the production of outdated third-party hyper mechs and dedicate the newly available capacity to serving our needs."

"Did you remind Isthmus that our living mechs must be fabricated according to a more demanding linear process?"

"The Rubarthan mech manufacturer is already aware of our requirements. It is not a secret. It is clear that Isthmus has done its due diligence before it has made contact with us. The company believes so much in your design ability that it has even made another promise. As long as your subsequent second-class mech designs are able to match or exceed the sales potential of the Fey Fianna, Isthmus is more than willing to free up additional production capacity to meet the spike in demand. The Rubarthans in charge of the mech manufacturer love nothing more than to keep as many of its production lines running in a stable manner for years on end. This is the foundation of their business model."

"Interesting..."

Everything he heard about Isthmus was positive. Ves saw little reason why he should deny this offer. Cooperating with Isthmus sounded a lot easier than trying to negotiate individual production agreements with dozens of smaller mech manufacturers!

Of course, he still needed to do more research before he was willing to get in bed with this larger player.

"I can schedule a virtual meeting with the CEO of Isthmus Manufacturing if you wish."

"Do so. By the way, where is Isthmus Manufacturing based in the Rubarthan Pact?"

"Its headquarters is located in the Impresario Principality. Don't worry. The Impresario Prince has not taken side in the political struggle for the throne. He has been trying to maintain his neutrality."

"That name sounds familiar..."