The Mech Touch

"The Swordmaidens and the Heavensworders love the Vivacious Wal." The chief shipwright quickly added. "In fact, the feedback across the fleet is highly positive. The civilian clansmen prefer to spend their vacations on the Joyful Side while our more martial Larkinsons show varying degrees of excitement towards the more mature and violent activities of the Feral Side. Not only does this area offer space for a complete ground-based mech arena, the hunting activities can become an iconic attraction that can attract a lot of wealthy tourists if the Larkinson Biotech Institute are able to design powerful beasts."

Vivian came up with a lot of smaller arguments that all added up to a serious vote in favor of acquiring the entertainment ship.

"What do you think, Mr. Shederin?"

"Monotony is the death of enthusiasm. I believe there is great merit in acquiring the Vivacious Wal. She is especially suitable in preserving the vicious nature of the Larkinsons. Think of how our clan will develop in the long term if our men do not have access to the facilities that only a vessel like this can offer."

Shederin Purnesse possessed an insight in people that the other two lacked. His understanding had actually grown in the past few months. The stark contrast between the people he previously interacted with and the soldiers he dealt with on a daily basis allowed him to perceive many details he previously overlooked.

"You should know your men and women best, patriarch. One of the reasons why the Swordmaidens are so highly regarded is because they have the courage to challenge the most intimidating opponents. Even if they have to face expert mechs, these indomitable women never flinch. This quality is impossible to nurture through regular academy training. The actual Swordmaidens have all hunted down formidable exobeasts while armed with nothing but their personal swords. If we can host these trials within our fleet, the Swordmaidens will be able to continue to maintain their edge."

The chief diplomat's argument caused Ves to take a more serious look at the Vivacious Wal. Though he still preferred to acquire a combat vessel, the Graveyard and the upcoming Gorgoneion already covered these areas.

If he wanted the Larkinson Clan to become more rounded and offer enough enrichment to his clansmen, then adding a vessel as diverse but thematic as the Vivacious Wal was not a bad idea.

Without this ship, the Larkinson Clan would remain a lot more one-dimensional. The clan revolved so much around designing mechs and producing mechs and fielding mechs that this would likely cause his clansmen to become distorted.

Shederin Purnesse affirmed those suspicions.

"Part of the challenge of living the spaceborn life is the extensive lack of diversity in a fleet. It is much easier to offer a complete society that gives every human enough fulfillment to develop in a healthy manner. Countless studies have shown that spaceborn populations that are overly concentrated in specific areas gradually diverge from the general standards of humanity."

"I bet the true spaceborn and the fleeters don't like those conclusions." Ves smirked.

"That doesn't make these conclusions any less true, sir. The reality is that the spaceborn population of humanity has already diverged so much from planet-based humans that they can be considered a separate strain of our race. They are still human, but their ability to identify with their landbound counterparts has become increasingly more questionable over time. I am sure you have heard about all of the stories of how the CFA and the people affiliated with it have become more insular."

Ves nodded in agreement. "I know. I interacted with enough CFA personnel to know how much they look down on ordinary humanity."

"That's what happens when admirals don't pay enough attention to the holistic development of their subordinates. Fleeters spend years or even decades serving aboard the same warships that are part of the same combat-oriented warfleets. What little shoreleave they enjoy is hardly enough to slow down their inevitable transformation to a warped reflection of humanity."

This issue concerned Shederin Purnesse so much that Ves had to take this warning seriously.

"Maybe you have a good point, but the survival of the clan is our highest priority." Ves reminded them all. "A rounded development for our people is meaningless if an enemy force smashes these defenseless capital ships apart with ease and wipes the rest of us out with no further issue."

"You shouldn't look at it that way, patriarch. The value that ships like the Vivacious Wal can bring is enrichment at a level that is difficult to quantify but clear to see over time. A healthier clan is a stronger and more versatile clan. It is exactly because we are willing to invest in a capital-grade commerce and entertainment ship that we show we care greatly about the wellbeing of our clansmen. The Larkinsons will support you even more for providing for their neglected needs."

The Swordmaidens should especially be happy once the Vivacious Wal got up and running, but other Larkinsons interested in sport or duels should be content as well.

The more Ves thought about it, the more he thought that there was at least some merit to acquiring such a vessel.

"Fine." He waved his hand. "I am willing to host this ship in our expeditionary fleet, but it had better be worth it. From what it sounds like, it takes a lot of effort to get all of her facilities up and running. The hunting biomes also need to be supplied with a regular supply of challenging beasts to keep the hunters occupied."

"We have already fleshed out multiple plans for that." The Purnesser easily replied. "You do not need to handle these issues in person. My son Novilon has already laid the groundwork and contacted the relevant people such as Dr. Ranya Wodin. Some of her researchers specialize in the art of beast design, so as long as their needs are met, they should have no issue with breeding and supplying as many hunt-worthy beasts that the Vivacious Wal needs. In fact, the hunting sessions can even be used as opportunities to gather valuable data on the performance of the exobeasts and designer beasts."

In the end, Ves tentatively approved the acquisition of the Vivacious Wal. He felt a bit more comfortable in doing so knowing that he wasn't particularly short of capital ship slots, just vessels to fill them up. If Shederin Purnesse was right and that combat vessels would become in short supply throughout the galaxy, then it didn't make much sense to save up for a vessel that would never become available.

He felt rather frustrated at the fact that he and his clan were helpless in the face of shifts in the starship market.

"The difficulties in procuring the starships we need makes me eager to get my hands on the Diligent Ovenbird. As long as we upgrade her construction systems, we can start to build our own capital ships!"

Vivian Tsai responded with a nervous smile. "Even if we do our best, it will take a lot of advanced tech and materials to complete the necessary transformation. Even then, the Diligent Ovenbird can only be used to construct a capital ship when she remains stationary. You can forget about building a large ship on the move."

Ves was already aware of these constraints. He was just voicing his frustrations.

"Anything is better than the current situation. We are already good at fabricating mechs. THe jump to building starships is great, but shouldn't be insurmountable to us. We just have to gather all of the pieces."

The Larkinsons absolutely had to develop their own shipbuilding industry, but it was not something that they could acquire easily. In fact, Ves doubted whether he would reach Senior before his clan became fully capable of constructing larger vessels!

Vivian poked Lucky's belly and ribs as she thought. Her unusual touches caused the gem cat to issue a complaint.

"Meow."

"Capital ships will probably be out of our reach for a number of decades, but it is much simpler to set up a smaller shipbuilding operation. We can probably start building our own sub-capital ships in a couple of years as long as we can apply the right upgrades."

Ves crossed his arms. "We can leave all of this for another time. Right now, I just want to know about all of the capital ships that we can acquire in the short term. Are these three vessels the only ones that we can acquire within thirty days or so, or are there other potentially useful candidates that you have neglected to mention for one reason or another?"

He was obviously on to something, because the expressions of two had shifted yet again.

"Unlike the aforementioned second-hand vessels, we are still questioning the usefulness of the remaining ones."

"Let me be the judge of that, then. Introduce me to the more interesting ones."

Ves soon found out why the pair did not mention the capital ships that had caught their eye but made them pause.

"The Blinding Banshee is an espionage and ECM ship. As you can imagine, she used to function as the headquarters or an important mobile stronghold for an intelligence agency or sorts. We're not entirely clear of the details."

"Why does she look so odd?"

"Her shape is highly conducive to lowering her sensor profile. This is especially the case when she adjusts her facing so that her silhouette is lowered to a minimum."

"I understand the theory of it, but I have never seen a vessel that takes it to such an extreme!"

With a total length of five kilometers, the Blinding Banshee initially sounded as if she was quite hard to hide in space. However, with a diameter of less than 100 meters, she essentially looked like a long but very thin and fragile rod!

Ves didn't even know how the shipwrights managed to ensure that such a ridiculous structure remained stable. He could tell that the vessel was not actually a straight rod and contained several structural and mobility-related systems at regular intervals.

Even so, the extreme design of the capital ship hardly inspired much confidence in him. The Blinding Banshee was a design concept taken to an extreme.

"Why this specific shape?"

"There are multiple reasons." Vivian replied. "I've already mentioned the possibility to minimize her sensor profile, which combined with her formidable ECM systems helps deny crucial information to an opponent. Another reason is that she can also act as a giant antenna for certain scanning and detection methods. The exact mechanisms are a bit too complicated to explain right now, but please trust me when I state that her scanning and detection methods are quite stellar."

That sounded very handy. There were many hazards in space that confounded normal detection methods. Having a specialized espionage vessel on hand would make it much easier for the Larkinsons to deal with these dangers.

Of course, the Dragon's Den was already capable of performing similar scans, but the Blinding Banshee's systems were much more capable of detecting stealthed opponents.

With both the Dragon's Den and the Blinding Banshee working together, they could ensure that no stealthy shuttle or other threat would ever be able to sneak into the Larkinson fleet unnoticed!

Still, Ves was more inclined to reject the suggestion to acquire this rod-shaped vessel. She looked way too odd and fragile to his tastes.

His comm suddenly beeped.

"Huh?"

No one should be able to call him during his meetings. Only a very small group had the right to interrupt him at any time.

"Calabast!"

The projection of his spymaster appeared in front of his face.

"Ves, I know you're busy so I'll keep this short. Get the Blinding Banshee for me. She's almost perfect for the purposes I have in mind. With her powerful and targeted scanning systems, I can make a lot more progress in sweeping our starships of bugs and any improper programming. The hidden dangers that you have always been worried about will become a lot less relevant as long as I can obtain this ship and all of her features intact!"