The Mech Touch

he was missing out, he instead turned to his other gains.
He inspected the weapons, gadgets and spare suit of combat armor before turning to the data chips and data pads.

”Let ’s see what kind of data Mr.
Longhorn has squirreled away. ”

The data chips and data pads all survived the years of neglect, as they should be for top-quality CFA products.
While their contents were all locked behind encryption, it didn ’t take his modern Vandal comm much time to hack them all.
This just reinforced his precaution towards the biological brain implant.

Much of the contents of the data chips and data pads hardly impressed Ves.
They consisted of old periodicals and miscellaneous internal documents that no longer held any relevance.

None of their contents contained any valuable knowledge in the form of textbooks, internal articles or research logs.

Ves was seriously disappointed with what he found.
”Longhorn probably knew that anyone could enter cabin and unlock all of his data chips and data pads.
He didn ’t dare store anything sensitive or valuable in them.
What a cautious bastard. ”

He would have done the same in Mr.
Longhorn ’s shoes, so he didn ’t remain upset for long.
His current haul already consisted of enough goodies.

After a moment of consideration, he decided to skip his original intentions to rest and instead make use of his haul to improve all of his gear.
He called for a lifter bot to pick up the spare suit of armor and all the other bits and bobs and guided it down towards a specific armory compartment.

The Starlight Megalodon held many armories.
The dreaded Internal Security Department controlled half of them while the Marine Detachment controlled the other half.

Virtual Commander Cosit heard that the Intelligence Department controlled a few hidden armories throughout the ship as well.

When Ves approached the nearest armory under the control of the Marine Detachment, a pair of heavily-armed bots prevented him from going further.

[Halt! Ensign Longhorn, you do not have permission to enter the armory.]

”I ’m entitled to some gear as a newly commissioned officer. ” Ves frowned.
”I am willing to trade some of my merits for certain services.
Can you get me in touch with the chief armorer? ”

It took some convincing, but the dumb security bots finally called in to their superior.
A virtual officer garbed in a simple but neat marine pattern uniform stepped out of the hatch and gazed at Ves with a curious but casual glance.

[Name ’s Levitt.
I ’m the chief armorer around here.
You ’re the first human I ’ve seen in ERROR amount of years.
Let ’s step into my office to discuss your visit.]

The Virtual Chief Armorer guided Ves inside, allowing him to see hundreds of advanced suits of combat armor and exoskeleton armor.
All of them appeared to be made of extremely high-quality materials that surpassed the spare suit of combat armor that Mr.
Longhorn stored in his personal cabin.

Nonetheless, Ves had no right to appropriate any of those advanced marine armors.
He didn ’t even possess the necessary training to make use of them.
Just staring at them just made him jealous for no reason, so he quickly averted his eyes.

As they passed through racks of advanced combat gear, they finally stepped inside an office where the both of them took their seats.

The Virtual Chief Armorer regarded Ves with a merchant ’s eye.

[I hear you ’ve come for some business.
Well, you ’ve come to the right place! My armory is at your service.]

Ves tried to restrain his snort.
He knew that the chief armorer must be eyeing the merits he earned from completing some of the research projects.

While he wasn ’t opposed to exchanging them for some services, Ves did not wish to get ripped off.

”Business must be slow in the last thousand years, right? Besides polishing your marine armor for a few billion times, how else are you able to earn any merits? ”

The virtual chief armorer immediately adopted an angry expression.
”[I ’ll have you know that the marines are some of the strongest combat forces on this ship! We ’ve protected the Starlight Megalodon for over ERROR amount of years with dedication!]

Ves smirked and patted his Earth Ant.
”I just so happen to be in the possession of some gear from the future.
While they ’re nothing impressive by themselves, some of their properties such as their programming and innovations is highly valuable.
As long as you study them and improve the gear of your armory, I ’m sure you ’ll be able to earn a considerable amount of merits. ”

The suggestion immediately sparked Levitt ’s interest.
The lazy smile on his face turned a little more serious.
[Even so, we know that there humans waiting to get inside.
There will be hundreds of humans offering up their gear to us in no time.]

”Do you really believe those average people can plass the recruitment test? You ’ll have to wait a few centuries before they finally succeed.
Besides, even if they enter, who says they ’ll approach your armory? I know that there are dozens of armories spread across the ship.
What matters is that I ’m here right now in front of you with an offer at hand.
As long as you do business with me, you ’ll get a head start over all the other chief armorers.
You ’ll be able to study my gear first and crack their secrets faster than your colleagues.
As long as you file your reports about your findings first, no one else but you will earn the merits related to my gear. ”

Virtual Chief Levitt became more and more unsettled as Ves stole the initiative.
[You make a decent point, but what is it you want?]

”Let ’s negotiate. ” Ves smirked.

His candid talks with Virtual Commander Cosit increased his understanding of the different departments and their virtual officers.
While he knew that the Marine Detachment managed to hang on, they weren ’t exactly swimming with merits.

As long as Ves enticed Virtual Chief Levitt with a way to earn a considerable amount of merits, he believed he could gain all sorts of valuable services from him.
The threat of approaching another armory with the same offer diminished Levitt ’s bargaining power.

In other words, Levitt was much more desperate to close a deal than Ves!