"Meow~"

As the secret meeting went on, Lucky had descended and allowed Calabast to place him on her lap. As she stroked his patterned metal exterior, he cutely looked up at her with his glowing green eyes and pressed his paws onto her tummy in a rhythmic pattern.

Ves inwardly sneered at his cat's feeble display. If the lazy cat thought that he could escape being used as her personal sniffer, then he was very much mistaken! It was his fault for devouring the salvaged CFA gear that Ves had brought back from the Starlight Megalodon.

He conveniently ignored the fact that the CFA would have confiscated his goods regardless.

As Calabast outlined how much manual effort that she and her Black Cats had to expend to sweep the Spirit of Bentheim of any improper elements, no one in the shielded meeting room looked pleased.

"So to sum it up, it will take at least three to four years to sanitize our factory ship." Ves flatly said. "While I can reluctantly accept this requirement, the Bentheim won't be our only capital ship. In the next couple of years, I want to acquire at least six more capital ships before entering the Red Ocean. How long will it take to clear all of those vessels?"

"It depends." She looked thoughtful. "Some of the work can be done in parallel, especially when it comes to inspecting and correcting suspicious programming. However, sweeping all of the hardware on the vessels can only be done with the help of Lucky. How long that will take depends on the size and the interior design of the ships in question. For example, the Spirit of Bentheim is of a small to medium size as far as capital ships are concerned, but she is packed full of production equipment, power management systems, heat management systems and so on. In contrast, a fleet carrier like the Indigo Tremor contains a lot more empty space in order to hold all of those carriers. Combined with her relative lack of advanced components, we can probably sweep her entire hull in 2 years or less."

That was still a lot of time! No matter the size and complexity of the capital ship, Ves did not want to wait 20 years or more in order to remove or contain all of the security risks on his most important vessels!

Major Verle raised a finger. "Don't forget about our sub-capital ships either. While we already plan to sell off most of our fleet when we arrive at Tarnished Crown, we will have to acquire a lot of new combat carriers when we reach the Red Ocean. You can assume that all of the shipbuilding companies will certainly slip some hidden surprises into the vessels we buy. Who knows what the masterminds will do with the information they can secretly collect from us. Maybe we'll stumble upon a rich deposit of phasewater one day and attract lots of vultures the next day."

As long as there wasn't any solid proof connecting these two events, who could ever fault the shipbuilding company? Unlike civilized space where attacks against powerful fleets never happened without a reason, the Red Ocean was filled with greedy opportunists.

Any pioneering organization that managed to enter the Red Ocean was not average! The ridiculously high entry fees ensured that the competition would not be weak!

With so many sharks prowling humanity's latest frontier, it became more important than ever to exercise strict information control. While it was easier to hide the whereabouts of his fleet in the undeveloped star systems of the Red Ocean, as long as its whereabouts were leaked, it was too easy for nefarious actors to ambush the Larkinsons!

What was the chance of this happening? It shouldn't happen too often, but the odds were definitely higher than he could tolerate.

"We need a different solution." Major Verle concluded.

Both Ves and Verle looked at Calabast.

She frowned. "I can think of a way to solve our security issues faster. We can't solve this problem with our own strength, so we need to leverage our contacts and seek help from others. We have at least two choices. The first one entails establishing a deeper relationship with a very competent intelligence agency. That can be DIVA but it can also be spies from another state."

"This is not a good solution." Verle immediately shook his head. "DIVA is our biggest suspect. How can we ask your former employers to remove the bugs they installed on our ships in the first place?"

"Hey, our clan has developed friendly relations with DIVA. As one of its former agents, I know that the agency can be very pragmatic. As long as Ves and the clan exchanges enough benefits, DIVA will be more than happy to act in good faith. I have done so several times when I was in the field. We aren't the baddies."

There was no way the other two took her by her word.

"I don't want to have any further entanglements with the Hegemony." Ves stated. "Unless DIVA can provide solid guarantees, I am not inclined to make any further deals."

Calabast sighed. "I don't blame you. I don't advise you to approach any other intelligence agency then, especially foreign ones. They only look out for themselves and the authorities they answer to. If you haven't developed a prior relationship with them, then they aren't trustworthy."

"You mentioned that we had two options. What is the second one?"

"The MTA. Don't you have a good relationship with Master Willix, Ves? Try asking a favor from her. The MTA is bound to have a way to solve your security issues. If possible, ask for a scanner that can sweep entire starships or large sections of them at a time. We should also ask for a device that can automatically detect and correct malicious programming."

"This…" Ves hesitated. "I will issue a request the next time I see her, but I don't expect a positive response. I've already leeched a lot of freebies from her. I don't want to push my luck too far. She has already signalled to me several times that I shouldn't expect any further favors for the foreseeable time."

She was dissatisfied with her lack of progress in harnessing his design philosophy, the delay of their expert mech design projects and his unwillingness to reveal more of his trade secrets.

However, Calabast pointed out another way for him to pay for what he wanted.

"You have a lot of merits, correct? This is a powerful resource. While the equipment that I'm asking for is not cheap, you can probably obtain what you need by spending a couple of million MTA merits."

That did not sit well with Ves!

"I don't want to spend any of my precious MTA merits. We all earned it through blood, sweat and tears. Within the Golden Skull Alliance, the merits that we've accumulated directly translates to leverage. Any expenditure will directly reduce our weight within our pioneering alliance and will cause us to lose a lot of advantages."

Calabast pursed her lips. "Then find a way to earn more. This security issue is not acute while we are still residing in the galactic rim, but once we enter a new stage, the rivals and competitors we face are of a different caliber. They will exploit every possible vulnerability we have. I can already tell you now that we will likely face twice as much danger in the Red Ocean if we are slow in patching up our virtual security. The battles that take place in this domain can be just as decisive as battles in realspace. Don't make the mistake of investing solely in bigger ships and powerful mechs!"

"She has a point." Verle crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. "The defense of our fleet must be comprehensive. Strong military power is the root of our strength and should never be neglected. However, we need to be strong in other areas as well. Strong information control and virtual security setup will protect us against ambushes and sabotage. Close diplomatic relationships with allies and partners will prevent us from getting schemed against. Good mech designs will provide us with the means to maintain and expand our strength."

The Larkinson Clan needed to cover all of these aspects. The Red Ocean was simply too terrifying. Not even the Nyxian Gap could come close to all of the dangers that the clan might stumble upon in the dwarf galaxy!

The immense burden caused Ves to grimace. "We are too far away from fulfilling all of those requirements. The good news is that we have at least a couple of years to address our shortcomings. The bad news is that I'm not sure we'll get close enough by the time we reach Tarnished Crown."

A coy smile appeared on Calabast's face. "You can start with raising my budget."

"Granted. Discuss it with Major Verle. Do understand that acquiring expert mechs and capital ships come first. Without a strong fist, everything else is superfluous."

The Black Cats hadn't kept pace with the growth of the Larkinson Clan. It was a lot more troublesome to recruit reliable spies because those who worked in this sphere didn't inspire a lot of trust.

The discussion moved on to the second major security vulnerability that Calabast was concerned about. She set aside the blueprints of the Spirit of Bentheim and put some paper documents onto the table.

Ves picked up one of them and observed the familiar-looking profile image of Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken!

"Ideally, only vetted Larkinsons should be on our ships." Calabast began. "If we have any desire to take on passengers or host some guests, it is best to entertain them for a few days under heavy supervision."

She tapped the printed profiles of the Hexer trainers assigned to the Spirit of Bentheim and many of the other ships acquired from the Hegemony.

"Our current circumstances are worse. There are thousands of Hexers spread across our ships, with around 500 of them stationed on our capital ship. You can bet that each of them are carefully observing everything we do. Their deep control over our own starships not only allows them to access sensitive data, but also gives them the opportunity to engage in sabotage without alarming any Larkinson. While I don't think the trainers will go this far, their motives might change over the course of our journey."

"We can't kick them out." Major Verle immediately stated. "Our naval experts such as Ophelia Kronon and Commodore Abigail Evern have already stated that the instructors sent by the Hegemony are needed for at least a year, but preferably more. Our inexperienced and underqualified starship crews need a lot of guidance. Right now, they are too dependent on the trainers to man their stations properly."

This was not good news, but Ves had already accepted this tradeoff.

"I'm not too concerned about these people. Once they have passed on much of their knowledge and expertise, we don't need them anymore."

Calabast did not agree. "That may be possible for some of the easier positions, but the more crucial ones are always the most demanding ones. In particular, it is far too difficult to nominate adequate replacements for the chief engineer and the captain of the Spirit of Bentheim. This means we will be depending a lot on Daria-Maria Vraken."

Ves suddenly recalled something. "Calabast, you used to be a Vraken as well, right?"

"I officially severed ties with the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty a couple of years ago. No Vraken will recognize me as kin. If you think I can befriend the grand captain, then think again."

"I'm curious. What are the relations between the two of you? Back when you were a part of the Vraken Dynasty, did you know each other?"

The woman snorted. "Hah! Far from it! Daria-Maria is a main branch member of my former dynasty. You can think of her as the grown-up version of Gloriana. She received the most resources and the best training. Obviously, she was able to thrive with all of these advantages. As for me, I'm just one of thousands of side branch members. While I won't deny that I have lived a privileged life, I had to meet a lot of expectations without enjoying as much resources. I'm similar to Dr. Ranya in this regard. Does this help you understand our relative positions?"

"I see. So the two of you aren't acquainted or anything?"

"No." Calabast spat. "If we ever meet each other, she'll probably act condescendingly and lecture me how I've abandoned my responsibilities."

Ves was taken aback at her acid tone. She held quite a lot of resentment towards her former dynasty!