[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 184: Handover

Earning a bad mark on your record in the Mercenary Association often spelled a dead end to your career as a reputable mercenaries. Those with negative records often retired in ignomy or resorted to taking shadier jobs that hadn't been regulated by the Mercenary Association. People usually called them dark mercenaries, and were often regarded as one step away from pirates.

Keller snorted at Ves. "Once I earn my knighthood, I can leave my mercenary days behind me. My boys and I will be able to retire to a quiet mansion on a rural planet in the Kingdom until we're called back to fight a war."

The man had a decent plan. Depending on how much Vesia valued his head, eliminating him could indeed earn Keller enough kudos to propel him into the lowest level of nobility. By then, what did a negative mercenary record matter?

The mercenary commander gloated some more before he shut off the channel. Ves sighed in frustration as he looked down at his shackles. The mercenaries never regarded Ves as a threat, and didn't even pat him properly for weapons.

Outwardly, he only wore a tool belt around his hazard suit. He didn't carry any holstered weapons because they'd be worse than useless against the native life forms on this planet.

"Turns out I've been watching out for the wrong threat." He sighed.

He learned a very painful lesson today. Ves had never considered the mercenaries to go out of control in such a dramatic fashion. He continually relied on the iron grip of his client to keep the rowdy men and women in line. Today's event proved that the iron grip was as soft as a pillow.

Well, no use recriminating himself. Ves regained his composure and started to take stock of his gear. First, he still wore his hazard suit. The suit's heads-up display showed that he still had over seven days of oxygen.

After that, he'd get into a lot of trouble, because the air on Groening IV contained plenty of junk but precious little oxygen. The exobiologists discovered that some of the plant life emitted oxygen, but most of the other plants seemed to thrive on a very different cycle. Ves would slowly suffocate at that time if he couldn't get any replenishment from his captor.

Second, he had his shield generator with eighty percent charge remaining. This might save him from a couple of fatal blows, but Ves had no illusion that it would last very long against a raging Kaius.

Though a shield generator looked conspicuous, he hoped that Jutland wouldn't notice. As long as the doctor didn't frisk him or force him to take off his hazard suit, Ves was sure he'd be able to keep its presence a secret.

Lastly, Ves still wore his all-important comm. Besides the System, his comm also held his Privacy Shield and its Full Stealth augment. He put most of his hopes on the latter in order to provide him with an opportunity to escape.

That was also why he didn't struggle too much when Keller came to whisk him away. He still held on to a lifeline.

A shudder interrupted his thoughts. The shuttle's engines cut off, and the hatch of the vehicle opened. "We're here! Throw him out!"

The same pair of soldiers grabbed ahold of Ves and dragged him out of the shuttle. After bringing him in the middle of a clearing, they unceremoniously dropped him against the harsh metallic soil.

"We've got your mech designer here! Come and pick him up!"

To his surprise, the Kaius itself appeared from the jungle. Its giant, half-rotting form crawled over to the middle of the clearing with deliberate steps. Everytime the Kaius stomped with one of its six limbs, the entire ground appeared to be shaken up.

The looming sight of the Kaius intimidated everyone present in the clearing. Remarkably, no one brandished their weapons. Despite the fact that a strike force composed of more than a hundred mechs had set off to pin down the Kaius and force it into a decisive engagement, the monstrous mech evaded House Kaine's determined efforts.