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"Alright, so what problems have we run into?"
"Well, for now, everything is fine, but you understand that this state of things won't last forever. Yeah, right now we have cars, Basilisks, free electricity, and water that we don't have to drive into the city with tankers for. What's more, thanks to you, our gear has become standardized, and now we don't have to have a thousand and one spare parts on hand. We just need a couple of sets of the same parts..."
"Saul, don't sing my praises. Tell me what problems you see, as someone more experienced in managing a clan..."
I looked at my second-in-command, who sighed sadly.
"Weapons..."
I raised an eyebrow in question and was about to open my mouth to ask for clarification, as Saul had fallen silent and wasn't in a hurry to reveal the problem to me. But I quickly closed it and frowned slightly.
"Are you saying we have little chance of keeping everything in our hands because of our shitty gear?"
"Exactly... thanks to your efforts, the clan's chrome is good, the tech is good, but all that's left is our personal gear. We haven't fully digested the loot we got yet, but even now, we've started to attract attention. And what's going to happen when we've digested it all?"
I sighed.
"Alright... let me think..."
I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in and closed my eyes, thinking about the situation as a whole. And there was a lot to think about...
"How much time do you think we have?"
"Six months... that's the maximum. But I would expect problems to come sooner..."
"Alright, then we're shutting down all operations."
"Huh? What are we going to live on?"
"I'll find a way..."
I sighed and, opening my eyes, looked at Saul.
"...of course, we shouldn't break off any jobs. All planned jobs should be completed. But in a month, Saul, you hear me? In a month, not a single Aldecaldo should leave the clan without a good reason."
"Did you come up with something?"
"Well..."
I thoughtfully scratched my nose.
"...I have something in mind... right now, the girls and I are finishing up one difficult task, cutting off all ties to one extremely nosy and overly-persistent fixer, and after that, the girls will continue to crack the ICE on a couple of chips. And EVERYONE, you hear me? EVERYONE in the clan will have to go through training. I think it'll take at least a couple of years."
"A couple of years?!"
"Quiet, Saul..."
I looked at him sternly.
"That doesn't mean we won't be taking jobs during those couple of years, not at all. But only the best will be sent on jobs. They'll be equipped with the best gear, for the creation of which we'll order a large, mobile, technical complex."
"Cough?!"
I didn't pay attention to the fact that Saul was choking.
"Preferably from Militech, of course. My medium repair kit has been working great, but we'll never have enough money for that, so we'll have to settle for a complex from a less famous corporation."
"David, stop..."
I looked at Saul and raised an eyebrow in question.
"You... why do we even need that?! Do you realize that a large, mobile, technical complex is a Behemoth! It's a Behemoth, for fuck's sake! And it's not like our six-wheeled ones! It's a twelve-wheeled beast, with six axles, for fuck's sake!"
"Saul, I get it, but it seems like you're not looking to the future..."
"Explain..."
He frowned.
"And what will happen later? Let's say we find a large repair kit, even one from Militech..."
"Well..."
"Don't interrupt... so we've repaired all our gear... what then?"
"Huh?"
"Then they'll just cut off our oxygen supply. A repair kit needs very specific components. Yeah, it can print some parts itself, but some..."
I shook my head.
"What do you mean by: 'they'll cut off our oxygen supply'?"
"Our enemies will just lean on the right people, and the price of components for us will skyrocket. No, we'll find other suppliers, of course, but even if they can't be leaned on, they'll soon catch on and start raising the price... and it'll be like that with everyone. In the end, we'll just be squeezed out and forced to return to the level we were at before the standardization."
Saul frowned.
"We could use the trophies..."
"We could, but that's a switch to different standards, and if we want the Aldecaldos to be the best..."
"So what are you suggesting?"
"I already said... we need a large, mobile, technical complex. It can process scrap into materials and then print whatever we need from it. In that case, the trophies will just be taken apart and recycled, and we'll get the exact parts we need."
"Do you realize how much that's going to cost?"
"I realize that we won't have enough money for a Militech complex, not now, not in the future. But from Mule-Tech-Corp..."
"That's cheap junk..."
"Saul, we're not trying to supply a megacorporation. The needs of the clan can be met with a complex from this corpo. It's still expensive, of course, but a used one can be found for a price that's acceptable to the clan. In six months, we'll not only get the complex in working order but also equip a couple of crews with good gear, not just weapons, but armor too, and then..."
"Fuck..."
Saul closed his eyes.
"You don't like something?"
"No..."
Saul shook his head, but his eyes remained closed.
"...it's just... everything was so much simpler before you came into the clan's life..."
"Well, all I can do is nod in sympathy..."
I accompanied my words with a mocking grin.
"Now get lost... I'll start preparing the ground for the changes. Not many of us will be happy about a total lockdown... even if it's fully justified."
"Alright..."
I stood up from the chair and left Saul...
"Fuck, how could this happen?!"
As soon as I walked away from my second-in-command's dwelling, Becca appeared in front of me.
"Hmm?"
"Why her and not me?!"
"Becca..."
"What's wrong with me?!"
"Becca..."
I frowned a little, but the enraged girl didn't want to understand that this wasn't the place to hash things out. I mean, come on, not in the middle of the camp!
"What?! What's so great about her?!"
I frowned even more.
"The fact that you can't even suspect her of having a fit in the middle of the camp..."
Becca flinched as if she'd been slapped. And my good mood, which had remained pretty upbeat despite the serious conversation with Saul, dropped to the floor.
"I..."
"Becca..."
"I don't have a chance?"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. Only then did I open my eyes and look at the little brat.
"Becca..."
I spoke in a completely calm voice now and placed my hand on her head, ruffling her unruly hair. She lowered her head a little, but not her gaze, so she ended up looking at me from under her brows.
"You're a smart and beautiful girl. You have a fun and kind personality. You're a little explosive, of course..."
I took my hand off her head and gave her a light flick on the nose, after which my hand returned to her head.
"Hey!"
She didn't say anything else, though.
"...but let's be a little more serious. I'm really glad to have a friend like you, and like Lucy, who's probably somewhere nearby listening and drawing conclusions. Am I right?"
Silence was my answer, and only Becca's lowered head made it clear that I wasn't wrong and that the girls had conspired. Or rather, Lucy had just promised Becca her support if she needed it, and Becca herself was supposed to ask the questions they were both interested in.
"Kiwi, she's already made up her mind. What's more, she understood that despite her liking me, I wasn't going to make the first move. So she did, and she talked to Judy and Panam."
"You're whipped..."
I smiled a little sadly at that description.
"I think a lot of people would agree with you... but not me. I just know very well that getting involved in women's business is more trouble than it's worth..."
I took my hand out of her hair and, grabbing her chin, lifted her face so our gazes would meet.
"...if you can come to an agreement, I'll be happy. If not... well, it wasn't meant to be. But by getting involved in your female relationships, I could end up with nothing. And I'm not happy with that prospect."
"And?"
"And that's where what's interesting to you and Lucy begins. If you can come to an agreement with Panam, Judy, and Kiwi, then you can definitely join our family. But first, you need to decide if you even want this..."
I looked her in the eyes carefully.
"Do YOU want such a crazy family? A life that definitely won't get any calmer over time, even though I dream of it."
"And if... if we do?"
"Then you know what you have to do..."
Becca bit her bottom lip.
"And for now, you shouldn't react so strongly."
"And I'm still not like her, am I?"
I sighed.
"Becca, any one of you, if my life had turned out differently, could have become my girl and taken care of everything else, including deciding whether or not a harem in David's name would be formed. But things happened the way they did, and you're all really precious to me..."
"And you..."
"Honestly? What fool in my place would refuse to have not three, but five impossible, outrageously, unbelievably beautiful girls?"
"So you want this..."
"I do."
I nodded, giving my words more weight.
"I do, but I won't go against the girls I already have. So you'll have to work it out with them..."
Becca nodded and walked away from me.
"Although something tells me they won't be against it..."
I said the last sentence very quietly. In fact, I didn't even say it; I just mouthed the words without making a sound.
"What?"
As soon as Becca left, Kiwi appeared next to me. Contrary to her usual behavior, she snuggled up to me, trying to press herself against me as hard as she could.
"Did Becca already start a fight?"
"Well..."
I scratched my cheek sheepishly.
"...I wouldn't call it that... Although, what the hell?"
I shrugged my free shoulder and shook my head slightly.
"Yeah, she tried to start a fight."
"And her spark went out quickly, as usual?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... I guess I'll have to talk to her a little later and tell her that at least I'm on her side and won't get in the way if she decides to build her own happiness with you."
"I'm really lucky..."
"You are..."
Kiwi and I went back to the Behemoth, in front of which Judy and Panam were lying on deck chairs.
"Did you two figure things out?"
"Well... we've just started. Let's just say we've figured out a general route to take..."
I sighed and sat down next to them. Kiwi still hadn't moved away from me. On the contrary, she happily sat down on my lap.
"How are things with finding Faraday?"
"They're good..."
"Hmm?"
"He thinks too highly of himself and believes he's untouchable..."
"Are you saying you've already found him?"
"Yeah... it was easier than we thought, but..."
"Yeah?"
"He works out of one of the underground clubs that corpos like to visit to watch 'mortals' fight to the death."
"Ugh... well, then we'll zero him out there..."
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