[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 122: Interview

While Ves waited for Marcella to arrange an interview, he met up with Dietrich. The mech pilot finally sent him a subtle message that he succeeded in finding a buyer for the blackmail material they dug up at the abandoned base.

Dietrich embraced Ves in a hearty hug with almost crushing force. "Ves! Good to see you again. Let's go inside."

They entered a dingy little restaurant in downtown Freslin owned by the Whalers. Ves was leery of discussing sensitive matters in the middle of the city, but Dietrich insisted.

"The cloud burgers here are the best on the planet!" He said as he vigorously ordered a couple of burgers for them both. "And I'm not saying that because we own the property."

After a minute of settling down, Dietrich reported his results. "I've been putting the word out in the black market. It's been a little slow in spreading due to the need of staying discrete. I've finally found a single buyer who expressed interest in buying what we have on hand."

"That's good, right? What kind of price are they offering?"

The mech pilot pressed his lips. "The anonymous buyer is offering thirty-five million credits."

Considering the extremely expensive gear they found in the abandoned base, that was a remarkably low price. Whoever built that base must be swimming in money. Extorting a billion credits was not out of the realm of possibility.

"There aren't any other takers?"

Dietrich shook his head. "It's a matter of credibility. Anonymous sellers don't have much credibility in the black market. It's all about building a rep or getting to know someone who already has a rep. I'm just a fish in a pond of sharks."

"There's also the fact that only one of those sharks have taken the bait. He's basically setting the price."

"I don't know if the big boys are colluding to press down the price, but yeah that's basically what's going on. No one else has expressed any interest in our data even after weeks had passed. We either take the existing offer or leave it. The only upside to the trade is that the buyer wants to remain anonymous as much as us."

They weren't obliged to accept the low-ball offer. Yet Ves did not wish to hang on to dangerous material any longer than necessary. "Our safety is our highest priority. Getting rid of the dirty ledgers will deflect any potential attention away from us. The buyer might be offering peanuts, but he's also taking over all of the risks. Let's accept the offer."

Since Dietrich didn't benefit from the sale, he merely shrugged and promised to finish the transaction within the week.

As they ate their burgers, Ves asked how his gang had fared so far in their salvage operation.

"My father's staked a solid claim on the site. There's been a few opportunists who've tried to dislodge the Whalers, but they all backed off when they saw our numbers. The mercs didn't expect us to bring over half our entire manpower. We entrenched the hell out of the surrounding area."

If they Whalers managed to strip down the base and extract every piece of scrap, they stood poised to earn an enormous windfall. Ves predicted that the Whalers would quickly invest their money in mechs and fortifications.

The recent unrest has made every local power wary. They gathered their strength and waited for the other shoe to drop.

After finishing their burgers, which Ves admitted tasted pretty good, they went their separate ways. Recent troubles prompted Ves to visit the branch office of Sanyal Ablin Security Services.

Miss Robyn's exotic beauty greeted him with a professional smile. "Good afternoon, Mr. Larkinson. Are you here to talk about your security arrangement with us?"