The Mech Touch

Although the deal negotiated by Calabast presented several caveats and problems, Ves leaned in favor of the terms.

So what did it matter if the concessions were slanted towards the short and medium term? This was exactly the most vulnerable period of the Larkinson Clan!

The previous battles and crises the Larkinsons had gone through had almost killed everyone. The clan's future came into question far too many times to count due to the fact that its military forces were still outmatched on a regular basis.

It took an extraordinary effort on the part of Ves and the current and future expert pilots of the clan to snatch victories from the jaws of defeat!

This was not a viable approach for the future. A small number of people shouldn't be forced to snatch victories under difficult circumstances over and over again. It was better if those victories never strayed close to the deadly jaws in the first place!

In order to accomplish that in the short term, it was okay for the Larkinsons to borrow the strength of others.

So far, Ves was quite satisfied with the reliability and competence of the Glory Seekers and Cross Clan.

Unlike the Larkinsons, the backgrounds of their two alliance partners were much more solid. They came from true second-class states and were not newcomers to the sort of battles that were being waged at this level. Their civil and intellectual development was also robust. In comparison, the Larkinson Clan grew too quickly to build up their foundation in this aspect and more.

So the concessions made by the two allies came in very handy. Ves wouldn't have to worry about the Larkinson Clan beginning to suffer all kinds of logistical deficiencies due to a lack of technical options.

Technology was the foundation of human civilization. Humanity's ability to make tools and machines to accomplish difficult goals and solve difficult problems was its basis for dominating the galaxy!

Therefore, it made a huge difference if the Larkinsons obtained a nearly-complete tech library. Even if many devices and technical designs could be bought from the open market, the more advanced designs were not so easily obtained.

In any case, it didn't matter if this tech library wouldn't be updated. With the current pace of technological development, the designs would still be useful and efficient for at least a century if not more for certain devices.

Mechs were rather special in that the smallest differences could potentially swing the outcome of entire wars. The mech industry had to work hard to meet the insatiable demand for better, stronger and more efficient mechs.

Anything that wasn't directly related to combat did not possess this urgency. Starship development was much more relaxed as many ships were built with the expectation that they would last at least a century or more under normal operation.

Perhaps competitive environments demanded constant progress and faster innovation. Yet if the Larkinsons were just operating a normal expeditionary fleet, it didn't matter that much if their mining machines were 10 percent slower or if their efficiency in synthesizing a complex fuel formula was 30 percent worse than the norm.

The point was that the Larkinsons possessed the capability to mine asteroids and synthesize fuel on a fully independent basis!

In frontier space, there was a huge lack of services. Whatever products and services the early pioneers made available would always be overpriced and in huge demand for at least the first two decades.

The capability to construct starships and capital ships was a good example. This was an industry with an extremely high barrier of entry due to all of the specialized tech and know-how required to construct the most advanced and modern vessels.

As long as the Larkinson Clan received all of the knowledge and specifications related to shipbuilding and many other industries, it would have no problem with building ships in-house straight away once the Larkinsons gained the right facilities!

Aside from this, Ves also valued the other implications of the deal. The long-term dependence on the new spiritual networks ensured that the Glory Seekers and the Crossers remained shackled to Ves and the Larkinsons.

As long as Ves was able to maintain his spiritual monopoly in this new and unique sector, it was extremely unwise for his existing customers to turn their backs on him! He knew his spiritual networks the best and he also possessed the keys to control many of their parameters.

Ves faced betrayal more times than he could count. The fundamental reason why people lied or screwed him over was because there were more benefits to doing so than to remain honest. Only a few groups of people like the Swordmaidens and the Kinners were able to resist this impulse and remain true to their principles.

As someone who did not fall into this rare and special category, Ves found it hard to trust other people's promises at face value.

To him, true trust and loyalty had to be paired with concrete interests in order to remain solid. The intertwining of real interests would naturally ensure that either or both sides of an agreement remained committed!

Ves already had various entanglements with the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan, but they were not strong enough for his liking.

For example, the Glory Seekers and Hexers liked him in general due to his contributions to the Komodo War, but this did not change the fundamental problem that he was a male. Who knew whether some radicalist would rise up among them who insisted that cooperating with boys was evil?

He had to ensure that the Hexers or at least the Glory Seekers in specific remained friendly to Ves and his clan!

The Cross Clan on the other hand was tied to the Larkinson Clan by only two flimsy bonds. Patriarch Reginald and Professor Benedict both latched on to the clan because they believed that Ves could help them break through their bottlenecks and advance to the next step of their careers.

What if they achieved their dreams? If both of them achieved their biggest goals, then the Cross Clan effectively turned into a much scarier beast now that it was led by both a Master Mech Designer and an ace pilot!

It would not make much sense anymore for the Cross Clan to continue to hang out with the Larkinson Clan, let alone take a lower position.

In this case, the existence of a spiritual network watching over the rank-and-file Crossers would ensure that the Larkinson Clan would never be suppressed even if it became the weakest partner in the Golden Skull Alliance.

A great example of what might happen if the partners of an alliance grew too weak was how the Friday Coalition changed since its establishment.

Out of the original nine Coalition partners that banded together in order to resist the Hexers, three of them had become history. Hardly anyone knew their names or their other characteristics in the Komodo Star Sector because they were losers who failed to secure their future!

Ves did not want his Larkinson Clan to fall off in a similar fashion. He needed to build up as many advantages as possible in order to ensure his clan could keep up with the development of the Golden Skull Alliance. He also had to make sure his clan would still retain the capital to remain independent as the Red Ocean became a playground for increasingly stronger organizations.

All of these considerations meant that Ves had many reasons to accept the deal and not that many arguments to reject it. There weren't many long-term benefits, but he was already happy with gaining an extra guarantee that his allies would remain friendly.

This was why he allowed Calabast to arrange a personal meeting with the leaders of the two alliance partners.

A short time went by as the three members of the Golden Skull Alliance arranged a small, informal meeting.

There was no need for pomp and ceremony in order to hammer out some final details.

After a brief discussion, the leaders all decided to meet with Ves aboard the Spirit of Bentheim. Since the focus of the meeting was the spiritual networks that he was able to provide, it was best to enter a ship whose crew was most strongly affected by this innovation.

When Ariadne Wodin and Reginald Cross discreetly shuttled over to the hangar bay of the Spirit of Bentheim, they curiously studied the Larkinsons as they followed a guide who took them deeper into the bowels of the capital ship.

"Interesting." The nominal head of the Glory Seekers commented as she was assaulted by glows from various sources. "How can anyone work under these circumstances?"

Their female guide and attendant smiled. "You get used to it, ma'am. Most of these glows are quite pleasant to be around so we rarely shy away from them. It will be a lot less intense once we move away from the hangar bay. All of the mechs stationed here kind of blend in together to produce a stronger than usual effect."

Reginald Cross did not issue a word of complaint. He merely remained silent as he felt but remained unaffected by any nearby glows. He was more interested to observe how other Larkinsons interacted with each other.

As they moved through the long and spacious hallways, they no longer encountered any glows. While there were certain instances where golden cat statues had some limited effect, the two guests were able to observe the Larkinsons without feeling as if they were intruding into something private.

"These Larkinsons hardly act differently from when they are affected by glows." The older Hexer woman noticed.

"That's because we carry a piece of the Larkinson Clan everywhere, ma'am. Our Bright Warriors have the strongest effect, but the truth is that we already feel a portion of this glow in our minds. It's a lot less noticeable though, but that does not change the fact that we are constantly connected with our other clansmen. It's a magical feeling that I cannot truly describe to someone who has never felt this way."

"Has anyone ever wanted to remove this bond?"

"Not really, no." The guide shook her head. "It's like living without two legs. Getting rid of this comforting connection is no different from sawing off your own limb! Whenever we think back on the period where we lived without it, we feel as if we were living in poverty without even knowing it. There is no way that any Larkinson would ever want to go back to those times where we were alone and not sure if we could ever trust others."

Both Ariadne and Reginald frowned a bit at that. While it sounded as if the network watching over the Larkinsons was very helpful and desirable, it also came paired with a dependence or addiction that made it hard to turn back the clock!

If either of them chose to go through with receiving a network from the Larkinson Patriarch, then they needed to hope that everything remained fine in the future.

If the networks malfunctioned or if Ves tampered with them in malicious ways, then the Glory Seekers and the Crossers had few solutions to remedy the problem!

Fortunately, they were already aware that the networks were not omnipotent. Strong-minded people weren't as affected. While this was not as relevant to the Glory Seekers due to their lack of expert pilots, the Crossers were in a different position! Reginald Cross had full confidence that he would be able to spot anything amiss and be able to do something about it if Ves ever broke the rules.

"We've reached the conference room. Please head inside. Our patriarch is already inside."

When the two leaders entered, they saw that Ves wasn't preoccupied with greeting the newcomers.

Instead, he was busy with trying to separate Lucky from Blinky.

"I told you to cut it out already! Blinky, you're never going to beat Lucky due to your lack of combat experience, so don't pretend you have a chance."

Mrow!

"Lucky, don't be so harsh on the newest member of our cat family. He's still a kid!"

"Meow!"