The Mech Touch

Sending their children to an actual school as opposed to virtual tutoring classes significantly changed the family dynamic.

Gloriana no longer had to accompany her children as much as before.

Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine were already having a blast at their new schools!

The differences between virtual schooling and physical schooling were greater than Ves expected.

Their children became a lot happier now that they could make friends for real. They were no longer as lonely as before and already started to live more active lives now that they could engage in real extracurricular activities.

These were conditions that no Hyper Chamber could provide.

Seeing how his children became a lot more invigorated than before, Ves began to lean towards staying in New Constantinople VIII for a longer period of time.

On the one hand, he wanted his children to stay in a community long enough to form deeper friendships and endure less disruptions in their lives.

On the other hand, Ves did not want his family to become inextricably tangled with the Terrans.

Perhaps it might be better to postpone a move until years later. He could balance out the Terran influence by enrolling his children into Rubarthan schools.

Of course, the premise of this happening was that he and the Larkinson Clan developed a good relationship with the Rubarthan Pact.

Talks with the Rubarthans were still ongoing. Due to the magnitude of the decision combined with the deep divisions between the two leading princes, the matter had ended into a deadlock.

This completely upended the Inferno Spear Prince's intention to give the Rubarthan Pact a decisive lead on this matter.

So long as the Smokestack Prince and other significant Rubarthan factions continued their opposition, there was no way to make any serious progress.

This was the deficiency of a centralized state that had just lost access to their ultimate decision maker.

It looked as if the only way for the Rubarthans to make up their minds was for their god pilots to return.

While Ves grew a little disappointed by this, he did care all that much. It was only a matter of time before the Rubarthans concluded a deal with him. The advantages of kinship networks were too great to ignore.

As Ves continued to split his time between designing mechs, studying advanced knowledge and playing with his children when they returned from school, a major development had finally taken place.

The Larkinson Clan finally managed to establish its own base in New Constantinople VIII!

This was the first piece of wholly owned real estate that the Larkinsons had acquired in an upper zone. Its significance was great as it signified that the Larkinson Clan had established a permanent footing in first-class society!

This event was of great significance to the Devos Ancient Clan and the Terran Alliance as a whole.

Master Laila Devos accompanied Ves and the other Larkinsons as they moved out of the rented villa and settled down in their new homes.

While the Devosans had put considerable effort into making the living environment more pleasant, they could not change the fact that all of the walls and other structures were originally used to form a small military outpost in dangerous space.

This meant that the decorations were rather sparse. The furniture lacked refinement and there was a serious shortage of windows and gardens.

The Larkinsons actually did not mind this all that much. They had gone through so many dangers that they took greater comfort in extra security.

Few compromises had been made in terms of defense. Useless aesthetics made way for practical and efficient architecture. It even reminded the Larkinsons of the years they spent in space.

At this moment, contractors were still in the process of shipping in furniture and installing lots of fixtures.

The place would slowly lose its sharpest edges over time.

The Bluejay Fleet had already dispatched its mechs and other guard troops to man the defenses and patrol the perimeter.

The Devos Ancient Clan had given Ves the choice on where he wanted to establish his first first-class base.

He could have chosen to place it in the outskirts of Sandan, but that made it too easy for threats to blend in the city and attack the base by surprise.

Ves had opted to place his base in an isolated region that was still within shuttle distance of the capital city.

The transit time was not too long considering how fast first-class shuttles could fly. His children could even travel to school and back in an instant by utilizing teleportation technology, though Ves was far too paranoid to employ it on a regular basis.

"We have taken the liberty to cooperate with the mechers to upgrade the defenses of Diandi Base." Master Laila Devos explained to Ves as they briefly toured the relatively small site. "Our main effort was to reinforce the surrounding underground terrain. This does not prevent enemies from tunneling into your base from below, but it will hinder anyone who attempts to do so. Seismic sensors along with other monitoring systems will detect any approaches no matter how careful the intruders may be. It only takes one titan shield to blockade them long enough to evacuate the base or to call in reinforcements."

Ves looked pleased at this. It was quite easy for first-class mechs to tunnel underground if they had been equipped with the right modules.

However, first-raters had already developed extensive countermeasures against this. The most direct way to frustrate tunnelers was to strengthen and reinforce the underground landscape to such an extent that it made underground incursions impractical!

The Devosans had already done this for Sandan in its entirety. The fact that all of this underground reinforcement also provided strong protection against orbital bombardment and the discharge of powerful weapons made this investment worthwhile.

Diandi Base was situated tens of kilometers away from Sandan, so it had initially settled on softer ground.

The cost to reinforce the ground was expensive, but it was a trivial matter for an ancient clan to cover this expense. The base wasn't even all that big.

"Your new base can only accommodate up to 120 mechs for the time being, but there is abundant room for expansion." Master Laila Devos continued to explain as they walked past a mech hangar. "The workshops and other production facilities here are limited in capacity as they are mainly used to facilitate repairs and engage in small-scale construction. You can expand them as you wish if you ever want to set up a proper manufacturing complex."

The Cat Nest used to be the iconic base and production complex of the Larkinson Clan. The Devosans would welcome a more upscale version of such a place on one of their most important planets.

Ves shook his head. "I do not intend to expand this base for the time being. We have a serious shortage of first-class personnel. While we have begun to retrain thousands of my clansmen, it will take years before they become qualified to work in the Terran Alliance. This base will remain severely underutilized for a while."

This was not new to the Devos Ancient Clan.

"Have you put thought into recruiting our local talents?" Master Laila asked. "Now that you have begun to settle into Terran space, it is necessary for you to quickly build an organization that can navigate the intricacies of a first-class society. The sooner you establish your new administration, the less you need to rely on your tier 3 galactic citizenship to convince others to work around your inadequacies."

He knew that she was right about that. Ves had been struggling over this decision for weeks.

Personally, he felt it was too soon to recruit a bunch of first-raters who were strongly attached to the Terran Alliance.

These sorts of people were bound to become much harder to integrate into the Larkinson Clan than other people.

The more elite and qualified they were, the harder it was for them to forget their original loyalties!

Ves greatly valued the unity of his current clansmen. Many of the second-raters who applied to join the Larkinson Clan did not have strong loyalties to their old states and organizations to begin with, so they easily accepted the identity of a Larkinson.

He predicted that it would become a lot more difficult for a Terran citizen to do the same.

To them, joining the Larkinson Clan was not mutually exclusive with being a proud Terran citizen.

Every first-class state was a prosperous and well-run state by default. None of them were terrible. This meant that its citizens were much happier and prouder with their current identities.

"I do not want to rush this process." Ves replied. "I admire the competence of the Terrans, but my clan has a history of picking up people who are discontented with their old lives. You Terrans happen to run your territories so well that hardly anyone here meets our recruitment criteria."

"Life is different in Terran space." The dean of the Eden Institute acknowledged. "I advise you to be more flexible and open-minded when it comes to recruitment. There are still many decent Terrans that can become an excellent addition to your clan. With your reputation and contributions, there will be no shortage in demand."

Ves pressed his lips. "I know, Master, but... one of the conditions to joining the Larkinson Clan is to sever all existing ties and loyalties to other states and organizations. We prize our independence and autonomy, as you should know. Our exclusive kinship network is good at determining whether a new recruit is truly committed to start a new life in our clan. I believe that most Terrans will not be able to pass this essential test."

His tone already made it clear that he did not intend to compromise on this matter. It was out of the question for him to drop this requirement.

"I think you would be surprised how many Terrans are willing to embrace a change in their lives." Master Laila eventually spoke. "Our society is not perfect. There are many Terrans that believe that they deserve to take on greater responsibilities, but there are only so many mid to high-level positions available in the Terran Alliance. There are also Terrans who have suffered failure in their careers. Their employers went into the background. Their projects failed to produce satisfactory results. They have made serious errors that ruined their reputations. There are still outcasts in our society that are looking for a second chance. If you wish, we can help you seek them out and refer them to your recruitment office."

That actually sounded a bit more promising than before.

Though Ves did not want the Terrans to meddle too much in this matter, The Premier Branch could not go on without recruiting at least a small staff of decently qualified first-raters.

"Our clan will not drop any of our loyalty requirements." He finally said. "So long as an applicant can meet these standards and more, I have no problem with hiring them on principle."

"That is good to hear. We shall embark on a search right away. It may take time to bring them to your clan as the more eligible Terrans are much more likely to reside in our smaller colonies."

"I am in no hurry." He repeated. "Our Premier Branch won't be doing much at the start."

Ves was sure that the Devosans would do their utmost to exploit this opportunity.

Any eligible Terran recruit would probably retain a high degree of affection towards the Devos Ancient Clan and the Terran Alliance.

This was fine. Ves believed in Goldie's judgment. The ancestral spirit had been doing this job for years and learned many lessons along the way.

"We have noticed that you have begun to familiarize yourself with several of your students." Master Laila Devos brought up. "If any of them are to your liking, you can reserve them at any point so that they will be ready to join and work at your clan as soon as they have graduated. You do not need to be concerned about their existing obligations and commitments. Their contracts can be bought with cash, favors or other forms of remuneration."

"Well, I admit that I have my eye on a few students. It will take at least a year for them to graduate, though. They won't be able to work with me right away."

"That is not exactly the case. There are internships. The students may also choose to work on their graduation projects at their future employers. The Eden Institute is happy to accommodate your Premier Branch in this regard."