The Mech Touch

"I think your uncle is doing what is best." Gloriana said.

"Not you too." Ves groaned.

"Regardless of whether his gambit succeeds or fails, at least he is broadening the foundation of the Larkinson Clan. Compared to many other pioneering organizations, ours has always refrained from building a large footprint on a planet or in a colonial state. That may not make much of a difference in the short term, but it will cause us to fall behind to other pioneers who have earned a lot more state support through their actions."

Ves, Gloriana and their children had settled into the living room of the Royal Mansion. They had just finished dinner and chose to settle down in order to play and relax.

Aurelia sat on her mother's lap. She paid close attention to the frontier news broadcast projected in the middle room even as Gloriana combed and braided the little girl's hair.

Meanwhile, Andraste stood a bit further away and threw a glowing and blinking ball to the other side of the room.

"C'mon, Lucky. Fetch my ball for me, just like I trained you to do. I will give you extra cuddles if you get it back within three seconds!"

"Meow…"

The gem cat directed an unamused look at the red-headed girl and promptly turned his body around as he laid on a soft and plushy hovering cat bed.

"Miaow!"

In contrast, Clixie showed a lot more enthusiasm. She raced off and bit the colorful ball before heading over to Andraste and dropping it before the girl's feet.

"Miaow miaow miaow~"

"Oh, I know you're a good girl, but it is Lucky that needs to be trained."

As Andraste futilely tried to get Lucky to move, her younger brother was playing with his latest toy.

The small child looked fascinated at the hammer that looked to be a little large in his undersized hands. After he studied it for a moment, he carefully held it in both of his arms and began to swing the hammer against the latest Mekanos that he had assembled.

Thunk.

"Huh?" Marvaine's expression morphed in confusion.

Dnk.

Pmpth.

Trkk.

He tried to strike the strange hammer against his Mekanos in multiple different angles, but no matter what he did, the impact sounds were nowhere close to his desired result!

"Why can't I make it sound nice?"

When his father had pulled out the Hammer of Melody and used it to give a firm tap onto the Mekanos, the sound produced upon impact was beautiful!

How could his father make it so easy to generate a harmonic sound? Marvaine became determined to figure out the secret behind the funny hammer!

Of course, Ves knew better than most people how difficult it was to wield the Hammer of Melody in the correct way.

Without harvesting the deep expertise and understanding of acoustic resonance from Master Blacksmith Rogha Dunnerholm, Ves would have never been able to create a song with the hammer no matter how many years he spent on studying its properties!

He already came up with several new plans to use the latest batch of trade secrets that he had acquired from the dwarf to enhance the mech design projects in subtle ways.

Ves would have loved to go further in depth on this latest curiosity if not for the fact that the latest developments concerning Davute completely disrupted his mood!

He still found it hard to stomach that some of his Larkinsons and allies colluded with the Davutans in order to form an agreement to fight in the upcoming war!

Even if his wife expressed sympathy towards Ark and his like-minded Larkinsons!

"You need to get over your hard feelings and think about this situation from a dispassionate point of view." She told him as she continued to braid her oldest daughter's hair. "Right now, our clan has expanded its population to 500,000 clansmen, of which the majority reside in our growing fleet while the remainder have chosen to live a more steady life in Davute. Does it matter if tens of thousands of them decide that they want to follow a different plan? You still have many clansmen left who largely agree with your approach and ideals."

Ves sighed once again. "It's not as simple as that. Sure, I can tolerate the defection of ordinary clansmen. Even the transfer of several thousand mech pilots is not that big of a deal as we have maintained an ample pool of reservists and can always put a bit of effort into recruiting more. What I truly have an issue with is the separation of key talents and assets."

"Ark is right about them, Ves. I am familiar with the needs and wants of our expert pilots, and I too have made the same observations as him. Even without your uncle as a catalyst, I have already predicted that the most restless and dissatisfied among our demigods would have approached you to request a transfer sooner or later. It is better to let this process take place in a more systematic fashion."

It was indeed better to let his clansmen fight under the command of a competent and battle-proven commander such as Venerable Ark. The fact that he was a true-and-true Larkinson also made Ves reassured that his people would end up in good hands.

His true problem was with Davute.

"I don't like how President Yenames Clive and his administration has exploited the openings of my clan and pushed us in this direction." Ves confided to his wife. "It is one thing for the colonial government to approach me from the front door and discuss my options in advance. It is another thing for Davute to go through the back door of my house and mess around with my stuff without asking for my permission!"

Aurelia took her attention away from the news broadcast and became more interested in her father's complaints.

"Are you angry, papa?"

"Yes. Maybe. It's complicated, dear."

Gloriana patted her daughter's head. "Your father is upset that other people had the temerity to do what was best for them all. He thinks there should be no question that he should be the one to make all of the decisions. Just because he is the patriarch of our clan doesn't mean he is allowed to steer people's lives to this degree. If Ark and many other soldiers want to fight in the war and help the Davute Branch become a major power in the colonial state, then let them. They are fighting for a good cause and they will ultimately help our clan become much stronger and more diversified if they do well in the war."

Their daughter looked impressed. "Ohh…"

"You need to think more critically, Aurelia. Your mother may be right, but she is making the mistake that many people make, which is that she is only looking at the more attractive side of the equation. There are always winners and losers in wars. If Karlach overruns Davute, all of the fighting and all of the sacrifices will come to nothing. Ark and the Larkinsons who followed him into the breach may get buried on a foreign battlefield."

His words caused his oldest daughter to wake up. Aurelia furrowed her brows as she harnessed her developing analytical mind to process the information.

"We already have lots of family." She said in an adorably serious and professional-sounding voice. "If we put all of them in our fleet, then if we suffer a single accident, our entire clan will be gone. The side branch in Davute may survive, but without the deterrence and protection of our main forces, the clansmen won't be able to protect all of our assets in this star system and beyond. Our rivals may even decide to get rid of them entirely!"

That sounded like a remarkably mature and realistic answer!

It would not be surprising to hear such a response from the likes of his advisors, but Ves found it jarring to hear that from a girl who looked young enough to be playing with dolls instead of serious political dossiers!

"So what do you think we should do in order to reduce this vulnerability?" Ves gently asked.

Aurelia became more animated and started to gesture with her cute little arms.

"We make the Davute Branch stronger! It needs to be strong enough to support itself without needing to rely on our fleet anymore. If this side branch increases its cooperation with the local government and is able to earn enough merits during the war, it can exchange them for lots of power and territory! This way, both our fleet and our side branch can support our entire clan by themselves if necessary."

Ves nodded in understanding. "I get what you mean. You want to turn the Davute Branch into a strong pillar of our clan. If our main fleet ever suffers an accident, our Larkinson lineage can still continue through the Davute Branch that is left over. If this side branch ever gets affected by trouble provoked by the colonial state, then our fleet which should be far away will remain unaffected."

Seeing the situation from this angle made it a lot more palatable to accept the splintering of his clan.

Although Ves mainly cared about the state of his fleet for obvious reasons, he did not want his legacy to be erased due to his own hubris and mistakes.

It would be better if he did not drag down his entire clan in the process if he ever encountered a calamity on his journey.

"We can also execute two different development strategies at once." Little Aurelia continued her analysis. "Papa can continue to lead our main fleet on different expeditions in order to seek more windfalls that can quickly make our entire clan stronger. This is a development strategy that is characterized by high risks and high rewards. Great-uncle Ark can take over our Davute Branch and seek ways to grow it by cooperating with Davute and building up a portfolio of territorial claims and business holdings. Since a state can protect our side branch from many threats, this development strategy is characterized by lower risks and lower rewards."

This way, the clan would be able to have its cake and eat it too.

"What a marvelous argument, my dear!" Gloriana praised her daughter and hugged the girl tighter against her body! "I am so proud of you, Aurelia. Our clan will be in good hands when you grow up. If you are already capable of doing this, then I can hardly imagine how much better you will do than your dummy of a father in a decade!"

"Hihihihi!"

Ves was just as impressed as his wife.

The problem was that he had become horrified as well.

There was a point where young geniuses exceeded the realm of praiseworthy. If their performance became too high, then they started to barge into the territory of a monster!

He was already aware that Aurelia had become unnaturally smart. He was accustomed to testing her and teaching her about different social and political issues.

However, Aurelia's recent intensive tutoring had accelerated her mental development even more, causing her to look outright alien as she spat out a high-level analysis from her underaged mouth!

Still, Aurelia was his daughter, so his love and affection ultimately trumped his apprehension.

"So what do you think of the views espoused by our girl?" Gloriana asked Ves.

"I think she makes a lot of good points." He admitted. "I guess it is not that bad of an idea to let Ark lead the Davute in his own way. Our clan would in effect split in half and be run as two concurrent branches. While our fleet will always be considered the main branch, I do not mind it if the Davute Branch seeks to become a regional powerhouse in this colonial state."

"So you are truly willing to share power with your uncle Ark?"

"I don't quite see it that way. It is more correct to say that I am willing to grant Ark enough autonomy to make his own choices without receiving too much interference from our fleet. In the future, our clan can take this parallel development strategy a step further. We can set up similar branches in the Magair Middle Zone and the Torald Middle Zone, put strong and visionary leaders in charge of them and let them do whatever they want. Whether they end up building an extensive business alliance or find a way to take over a colonial state by displacing its original rulers, it will all be fine as long as they don't carry their problems back to my fleet!"