Ves did contemplate incorporating the LMC in the Hexadric Hegemony, but he quickly rejected this option.
In order to obtain a charter from the Hegemony, the LMC would have to abide by all of its laws! This meant that Ves would have to fire or demote most of his male workforce while handing over an unreasonable amount of power to women!
In fact, Ves wouldn't even be able to continue to hold a majority stake in his company in some cases!
He was quite happy with the current arrangement. Incorporating the LMC at the MTA not only prevented his company from falling into the hands of the Friday Coalition, it also ensured that every actor would continue to respect the LMC's ownership rights!
"For now, the Friday Coalition hasn't touched the shares in the possession of the Ylvaine Protectorate and the Bright Republic." Gavin continued. "The CRC has already touched upon the limits of how much meddling they can get away with in the lesser states. I think those shares are definitely up for grabs at some point in the future, but for now they aren't very important. It's not like the Friday Coalition can do anything with those shares except earning a trivial amount of dividends."
Even with all of the shuffling that occurred in the past few months, Ves still owned 59 percent of the LMC's outstanding shares.
This was not necessarily sufficient for him to maintain control of his company. After all, he himself once browbeat the Bright Republic in forcing the original Larkinson Family to give up most of their shares!
Yet because the LMC now conducted business under the auspices of the MTA, there was nothing a state could do to force his shares from his hands!
Of course, the MTA did not shelter the LMC for free.
Gavin sighed. "Our upcoming taxes will bleed our cash reserves immensely. The MTA's standard corporate tax rate is 38 percent, and unlike other states the Association doesn't offer many deductions!"
The MTA was one of the greediest organizations in the galaxy. In Ves' eyes, they were consummate profiteers. They were just being smart about it by exercising patience and pursuing long-term prosperity over short-term gains.
There was no way the MTA would be like certain other states, where they were so beholden to corporations that they offered enough loopholes to drive an entire battleship through them! There was no way the LMC could take advantage of creative accounting to reduce their tax bill to just 750 hex credits or something.
As Gavin finished describing the all of the suppression the LMC endured in every Coalition-aligned state, Ves noticed something missing.
"I understand that we can no longer sell our products on these markets, but what about our existing customer base? Are they still allowed to use our mechs?"
His assistant chuckled. "Our customers are quite adamant about using our products. The Desolate Soldier alone provides an immense amount of value in many situations, and the Peaceful Soldier is particularly important to the Bright Republic now that the sandmen have launched their final offensive."
Ves didn't care at all about his former state. It could die in a ditch as far as he was concerned.
"So what does that mean to the LMC?"
"We're no longer making any money in those states, but our brand will continue to remain strong. That might not sound very relevant at first, but the glows of our products are so useful that their growing scarcity will likely turn them into cult classics."
"That doesn't sound very useful considering most of those customers won't be able to buy our mechs anymore." Ves pointed out.
"I don't think so, boss. I think the buzz generated from our deprived customer base will definitely affect our other customers! When there is constant talk on the galactic net or elsewhere of how our former customers miss our products, that will increase the value and desirability of our mechs for sale in the Sentinel Kingdom and every other state where we maintain an active sales channel!"
The boost in sales in Hegemony-aligned states partially took the edge off losing market access to so many Coalition-aligned states, but only partially.
However, the damage done by the Friday Coalition was very considerable.
"I think the LMC has lost a lot of direction." Gavin spoke frankly. "It's been months since you have last added the Deliverer to the catalog, and this mech model has completely lost its relevance. The Desolate Soldier is pretty much the only product propping up our company for the moment, but that is not enough to restore confidence after we have suffered all of these setbacks. You need to do something big in order to remind everyone that the LMC is still alive."
Ves recognized the implied criticism in his assistant's words. Lately, he had been so distracted by other priorities that he risked losing what made his company great.
He spent years building up its distinctive brand, its reputation for quality, its illustrious mech catalog and its unique company culture. He could not allow these accumulations to degrade until they rotted away!
"I suppose it's time for me to design a new commercial mech." He sighed. "It will have to be a product that invigorates the LMC and strengthen its market presence in Hegemony-aligned states."
The question was, what kind of mech should he design?