A gloved hand patted the armored leg of Ves' Unending Regalia.
"Papa?"
Ves looked down and smiled at his second daughter. She was just too cute! Her suited figure along with her big head reminded him of an exquisite doll.
"What's the matter, dear?"
"Lucky is sad, papa. He wants to go down."
As if that wasn't enough of a message, the gem cat himself floated next to Andraste and made a begging motion with his paws.
"Meeeow. Meeeow. Meeeow."
"Really now." Ves felt the urge to palm his face. "Do you know how unsafe it is to travel to a planet that is owned by a hostile state, you forgetful cat? Have you forgotten how long we were trapped on the surface of Prosperous Hill IV? Look, I'm in the same boat as you. I also want to snoop around in a big city like Ardam and see whether I can dig out a few treasures, but the risks aren't proportionate to the rewards. Do you really think the Gauge Dynasty is stupid enough to leave behind high-grade exotics and other exceptionally valuable materials?"
Though the Gaugers had been forced to leave behind a lot useful materials and goods behind due to lack of time and transportation capacity, they weren't stupid. The strategic reserves had been one of the first vaults to get emptied during the evacuation effort that preceded the battle in orbit!
The reports that the Larkinsons on the ground transmitted to the fleet indicated that a lot of warehouses and other storage places mostly contained low-to-medium value bulk materials.
Though all of these goods that were ordinarily used to make incredibly useful products such as mechs, starships and structures could be worth millions of MTA credits, the only way to actually profit from them was to bring it all back to a place where they could fence their stolen goods.
The Hex Federation was the nearest state where the Larkinsons could expect to get a good deal out of selling all of this loot.
The problem was hauling it out of the Friday Colonies! Just as the Fridayman lacked the cargo vessels to take away all of their valuable materials, the invading forces possessed even less capacity!
It really wasn't worthwhile to bring out all the bulk materials that Pima Prime had in storage. Whenever the Larkinsons encountered a warehouse filled with bulk materials, they simply passed the location over and went on to search for more worthwhile goods to plunder.
Considering the quality of Lucky's diet nowadays, Ves truly didn't think that his cat would be able to find anything good enough for him to eat. Why bother taking a risk when he could just lie down and eat his regular bowl of exotics?
"Meeeow!"
Lucky did not show any sign of backing down, however! The cat kept squirming and begging to go down for a visit!
"Pleeeease, papa?"
Perhaps Lucky alone wasn't strong enough to persuade Ves to change his mind, but the addition of his youngest daughter caused him to hesitate.
Andraste turned and grasped Lucky in her arms. Their relationship had grown quite close over the years.
It took a few more minutes for Ves to let out a sigh.
"Fine. I suppose Lucky is capable enough to take care of himself on the surface." He said while directing a warning gaze towards the gem cat. "You can board a shuttle or transport that is heading down to Ardam. You can roam around wherever you like and eat whatever exotics strikes your fancy, but I expect you to do your duty while you are in the field. If you happen to find a secret stash of exotics or other items of value, please notify our clan so that we can pick it all up. I will reward you with additional high-grade exotics in your daily meals if you happen to stumble upon an experimental device or the like. Do you understand?"
"Meow!"
"Don't forget that our schedule is tight. Though the intelligence suggests that the Fridaymen have been slower to send out rescue troops to this star system, that doesn't mean we'll be extending our stay. I expect you to return within 12 hours. If you're late, then our fleet will depart with or without you on our ship. Have I made myself clear?"
"Meeeow!"
"Papa! Don't be mean to Lucky!"
Ves sneered. "Andraste, if you want our cat to come back in time, then you better persuade him to keep track of time. Who knows how long he will stay if he doesn't get the message."
A half-ruined planet that belonged to a hostile state probably looked like paradise to Lucky!
There were so many materials that Lucky sneakily ingested without attracting too much attention because the Fridaymen were too preoccupied with other crises to track these kinds of losses.
It would take months if not years for the Gauge Dynasty to rebuild the planet and get everything back in order.
Even then Lucky had plenty of ways to keep stealing valuable exotics under everyone's noses.
The Fridaymen were all enemies so the cat had no reason to feel guilty about stealing their possessions.
The chances of getting caught were also small as long as the locals never found out about his presence.
Lucky hadn't been lazing around all of these years!
Years of eating a luxurious diet of high-quality exotics had slowly but steadily increased his capabilities. His speed, toughness, energy reserves as well as phasing capabilities had all improved by varying degrees.
His only significant shortcoming was that he wasn't able to cloak his body, but Ves already prepared a solution for this problem.
"I almost forgot, Lucky. Before you enter your shuttle, be sure to equip your Misfortune Harness."
"Meow!"
"I know it makes you feel confined, but it's for your own good!"
Andraste and Clixie decided to accompany Lucky during his trip to the hangar bay.
Along the way, Lucky visited an armory where he changed into the body-covering suit of armor that Ves had occasionally worked on in the past 5 years.
Lucky looked completely different once donned his high-tech cat armor!
The Mark V edition of the Misfortune Harness was a bit slimmer and much more refined than the previous versions.
It not only incorporated a more expensive active stealth system, but also integrated miniature modules that could perform a lot of auxiliary functions such as scanning, data storage, decryption and hacking.
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