The Mech Touch

The moment he spent 1,000,000 DP to upgrade his Full Stealth augment, a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders.

Losing so much DP meant that he wasn't plagued by choice anymore.

The System's Shop offered a lot of overpriced personal equipment that only truly started to become useful at 100,000 DP or more.

At the 1,000,000 DP price level, the System did offer various useful equipment. However, Ves no longer had to think about purchasing any of them now that his DP reserves dwindled to around 300,000 DP.

Ves decided to keep the rest in reserve. Just like last time, he could redeem a number of useful medicine or some other gadget to overcome a crisis.

Of course, the downside of this was that Ves wouldn't be as strong as he could if he spent the DP beforehand.

This was his mistake last time. If he had redeemed some better gear, he might have been able to avoid sustaining so many injuries!

"Well, I'm not as helpless now."

He managed to salvage an intact suit of medium combat armor. While he was anything but proficient in its use, he could still move around while enjoying the protection of second-class infantry armor plating.

This was enough to resist nearly every form of third-class small arms fire!

As for firepower, Ves not only possessed the Amastendira, but also the quaint but powerful laser pistol dropped by Aisling's female Benny.

The laser pistol aroused a lot of interest from him. As soon as he finished spending his DP, he decided to get the rest of his gear in order.

"It's too bad I blew up the armory." He muttered with regret.

He had already inspected it early and nothing useful was left! Every piece of useful gear had been destroyed by the cascade of explosions that demolished the entire compartment and turned the security compartment into a total mess!

The only weapons and gadgets he managed to scavenge came from the bodies of the former crew and guards. Aside from some multiscanners, none of them were useful to his situation.

He decided to rely on the compact laser pistol as his new primary armament. It packed more than enough firepower to handle most threats, and it was remarkably compact, easily allowing him to hide it underneath his clothes.

While he experimented with a heavy assault rifle, Ves quickly found out that they were very bulky and difficult to handle without training.

This was because the rifles were designed to work in unison with combat armor. This meant that unless Ves mattered the latter, he could forget about making full use of the former.

Though Ves wasn't really proficient in their use, he decided to mount one in his armor holster anyway.

In any case, the rifle came with many interesting firing modes and other useful functions. As long as he didn't have to aim too much, the rifle could definitely unleash a lot of devastation!

The heavy assault rifle incorporated three different damage types. Aside from lasers, the rifle was also capable of firing particle beams and kinetic rounds.

The variety of damage types was the main reason why the rifle was so comically bulky.

While the Scarlet Rose traveled quietly in FTL, Ves took the time to inspect and tinker with his new gear.

With Lucky's help, Ves delved deep in their programming and made sure to neutralize every single backdoor and precaution against unauthorized use. Second-class gear was very powerful, and therefore very dangerous in the wrong hands!

Only the compact laser pistol that belonged to Aisling's assistant gave him some difficulties.

Its security precautions were on an entirely different level. Not only did it contain various hardwired security measures and identity locks, they were also interconnected with each other!

As long as he tampered with one security precaution, the other security precautions would automatically trip, rendering the weapon completely useless!

Fortunately, Ves was a very capable engineer. By utilizing Lucky's hacking capabilities to unravel the software precautions while using his technical abilities to resolve the hardware precautions, he could slowly convert the weapon for his own use.

"It's like a puzzle. I can solve it as long as I plan out my steps."

The excessive security precautions did not seem characteristic of the Coalition Reserve Corps. Aisling's assistant was probably a spy or something.

Though it took longer than he thought, he finally managed to defeat every security precaution!

Afterwards, he reengaged some of the identity locks, but with himself as the sole authorized user!

Only after this did he feel confident in using the gear he scavenged from the Scarlet Rose.

The only gadget that Ves sorely missed was a working shield generator.

He did not regret leaving his two shield generators behind when the Mech Corps took him into custody.

There was no guarantee that Ghanso would pass them along to the Fridaymen during the handover!

"Oh well. As long as I take advantage of my stealth and my new combat armor, I shouldn't have to depend on a shield generator."

Of course, all of these preparations only enhanced his personal safety.

With regards to improving the capabilities of the ship, Ves had to make do with the Scarlet Rose's current capabilities and the supplements provided by Calabast.

"This isn't enough." He judged.

The Scarlet Rose was just a mobile supply frigate. While she was designed to outrun or evade all kinds of threats, she wasn't expressly designed to facilitate extended escapes.

As the ship was about to translate back to realspace in a couple of hours, Ves became a bit more apprehensive about what he would encounter upon emergence.

He rubbed his smooth-shaven chin in thought. "The Coalition should definitely be aware of my last-known position and my likely flight directions."

Just like last time, Ves expected to encounter an outfit or two who had been hired to intercept the Scarlet Rose.

There was a small but real chance that his ship would emerge within interception range of these hunters after exiting FTL.

If this ever occurred, Ves would have very little means of resisting.

"I'll just have to bite the bullet when it comes to that."

As the hours ticked down, the ship entered yet another lifeless star system. The weak glow of the red dwarf star illuminated a handful of rocky satellites that barely qualified as planets.

The Ordent Republic, which had become quite dependent on the Friday Coalition, did not possess a large and powerful mech military.

Its private sector outfits weren't anything impressive either. Just like the decadent Kamon Republic, Ordent mainly focused on developing its economy and culture.

"Seems like there aren't many formidable mercenary corps in Ordent." He commented from the bridge as he observed the ships skulking in the star system.

The Scarlet Rose detected seven light carriers spread out in three different groups across the star system.

None of them happened to be within a light-hour of the Scarlet Rose, which meant that Ves did not have to worry about interception.

Though one pair of light carriers actually possessed a head-start on the Scarlet Rose due to their relative motion, Ves did not worry too much.

He called up an interface and performed some quick calculations.

As long as the Scarlet Rose immediately started flying away, it would take far more than the time required to cycle of her FTL drive for the mercenaries to catch up with his ship.

In short, unless the FTL drive or propulsion system malfunctioned, he was safe.

"Well, I shouldn't be too complacent." He shook his head. "I can't forget about hidden threats."

Just like before, he engaged the active sensors and dialed them up to full power.

The Scarlet Rose would definitely be able to detect stealthed mines and vehicles in advance!

Once he issued the necessary commands, he sat back and observed the local situation for a time.

"If nothing unexpected happens, I won't face any threats."

Ves found it notable that he hadn't encountered any pursuers from the Friday Coalition yet. After reading Aisling's correspondence, he wasn't surprised by their absence.

Right now, the Komodo War forced the Coalition to retract most of its peripheral assets.

After Operation K, the partners of the Coalition became so alarmed that its leader reflexively recalled at least half of the assets stationed abroad!

Unless the Hexers invested more assets in a foreign state for some reason, the Fridaymen weren't inclined to waste their own assets.

Reading the messages and documents stored in Aisling's archive gave Ves a sporadic understanding of the war situation, particularly in the perspective of the Gauge Dynasty.

As the most powerful partner of the Coalition, the Gauge Dynasty became known for its domineering posture. It always aimed to be the best in anything and often competed against the other partners in many different competitions.

Yet as soon as the Komodo War broke out, the Gauge Dynasty quickly abandoned this posture and instead adopted a more diplomatic and conciliatory stance!

Though the other partners such as the Konsu Clan and the Vermeer Group knew that the Gauge Dynasty was only lowering its head due to the greater threat, they cooperated anyway.

They had no other choice! As long as the Gauge Dynasty offered an abundant amount of help, the state that was famous for its internal division would shed its biggest weakness!

It was pure fantasy to think that the partners of the Friday Coalition would continue to squabble amongst themselves while threatened by the Hexers!

While Ves mused about the Komodo War, the Scarlet Rose quietly remained out of reach of her pursuers long enough until her FTL drive finished cycling.

The moment the ship transitioned back to FTL, Ves finally relaxed.

In the next week or so, the Scarlet Rose repeated this routine. Each time, the ship emerged in a star system patrolled by at least two or more outfits.

In none of those cases did the stolen ship come anywhere close to to these hostile bounty hunters.

Though the mercenaries transmitted all kinds of threats and offers to the Scarlet Rose, Ves did not even bother going through them. As long as his ship left the star system, it was unlikely that any of his pursuers could keep up with his ship!

The tech and quality disparity between their ships was simply too big!

Even the swift, third-class corvettes were unable to match the speed of the Scarlet Rose, let alone the Barracuda!

By the time the Scarlet Rose left the territory of the Ordent Republic and crossed into the space claimed by the Great Zona Republic, Ves made it through a fourth of his journey without encountering any threats.

Ves did not expect the good times to last.

"Great Zona is very different from Ordent." He observed. "While it's close to the Friday Coalition, this aggressive state has always pushed the boundaries and conquered a lot of neighboring states on flimsy excuses."

If not for the rebel groups stirring up trouble in its conquered territories, Great Zona would have continued its conquest spree until it rivalled the Sentinel Kingdom in might and territorial acquisitions!

As it was, Great Zona's instability provided fertile ground for many pirates, mercenaries and other scum.

Ves immediately experienced the difference between Ordent and Great Zona as his ship immediately sounded the alarm upon transitioning back to real space!

He expected to encounter the same scattered presences as before.

Instead, the Scarlet Rose emerged at a point in space that was very close to a formidable-looking mercenary corps!

"Five light carriers, all part of the same fleet!" Ves gasped! "And they're all close!"

The local plot quickly updated with more information as the sensors captured more data.

All five light carriers had instantly started to close in on the Scarlet Rose!

According to the Scarlet Rose's estimates, the fleet would come into combat range within 40 minutes, which was far too soon for the Scarlet Rose to escape back into FTL!

Ves was in true trouble this time!