Chapter 2696: Payment for Services Rendered Obviously, the Larkinson Clan's major coup was the Auralis. No matter whether the Larkinsons attempted to bring her into service or sell her off, the ship was packed with value! What was especially important here was that the Larkinsons gained sole custody of the deep strike fleet carrier. They did not have to share the ship with anyone else, which saved everyone a lot of trouble. The problem was that the Auralis accounted for a huge proportion of spoils that the Larkinson Clan had to skimp out on other spoils. The Larkinson negotiators filled up the rest of the quota of spoils by securing a relatively small amount of mech salvage and just two expert mechs. Certainly, Ves was very interested in getting his hands on the Charlemagne and the Jeanne D'Arc. Despite their fall, the mechs were actually in decent shape. Aside from some missing limbs and some broken components, they could still be restored as long as Ves put in enough effort. The Charlemagne was a special mech. It served as the focal point of Master Huron's asymmetrical neural network, so it should definitely be packed with all kinds of advanced systems. The fact that the Larkinsons obtained a lot of Scarra mechs was doubtlessly helpful in any attempt to study or reverse engineer the asymmetrical neural network. "It's a shame I didn't manage to gain any of the valuable research data in Aisling's implant." Ves sighed. When Ves handed her corpse over to the Black Cats, their hackers quickly discovered that the implant was completely fried. All of its data storage facilities were firmly destroyed beyond any means of recovery. There was no realistic way for the Larkinson Clan to field neural networked mechs on its own even if it secured the Charlemagne and as many Scarra mechs as possible. It would have been much more useful to retain the services of the Aisling Curver and gain access to all of the proprietary research data in her head. It was too bad that Ves had made a different choice. While he did not regret killing someone he loathed, he also had to accept the implications. The Jeanne D'Arc wasn't as complicated. Its design was quite simple for an expert mech because its strength lay in its fundamentals. It hit hard, it flew fast and it could take an enormous beating. The latter was the key feature of this swordsman expert mech. The Jeanne D'Arc needed no shield because its frame was clad with tough, regenerating armor. When Ves discovered that Venerable Foster's former expert mech was augmented by Rorach's Bone, he immediately put it on his wish list. He wanted it! Rorach's Bone had a special place in his heart and it was also very useful to boot. The only uncertainty he held was whether it was possible to extract the Rorach's Bone from the Jeanne D'Arc without losing too much of its capabilities. Losses always occurred in any recycling process, particularly when it came to recovering volatile or energetic exotics. Ves also had plenty of other uses for an expert mech like the Jeanne D'Arc. By studying it, he would be able to gather a lot of clues and insights about the operation of an expert mech. The Jeanne D'Arc was the best choice to do so because it possessed the least complicated internal architecture out of the 11 broken enemy expert mechs. On the flipside, the Jeanne D'Arc also had very little to offer in terms of proprietary tech and applications. This was the extent of the spoils that the Larkinson Clan received. While Ves felt quite regretful that he didn't get to obtain more broken expert mechs, he was content with obtaining a complete capital ship. As for his allies, the Glory Seekers enriched themselves with plenty of other salvage. The Hexers secured 30 percent of enemy mech wreck salvage, 35 percent of enemy starship salvage and 4 expert mechs. The expert mechs they obtained were half of the Fridayman expert mechs. While these were less advanced machines compared to the mid and high-tier expert mechs of the traitor clans, the Hexers were quite familiar with how the Fridaymen built their expert mechs. This meant that the Glory Seekers should be able to make much better use of this salvage than others. As for the Cross Clan, they arguably obtained the highest share of spoils. Their powerful mechs and veteran mech pilots contributed a lot of battle strength to the alliance's lineup. Their powerful expert mechs also stopped the equally-powerful Praetor and Planat expert mechs in their tracks. The Erin Tear, the Imperial Verdict and the Trost were so powerful that they could easily slaughter thousands of mechs or entire starships if left alone! What was even more crucial was that Venerable Banner Cross sacrificed his life in an attempt to help with containing the Fridayman expert mechs! This was a very painful sacrifice for an organization that looked up to high-ranking mech pilots to an insane degree! The Larkinsons and the Glory Seekers weren't heartless enough to discount Venerable Banner's role. If the Leskin did not keep the Charlemagne and the Jeanne D'Arc busy, the Fridaymen would have been able to leverage their advantage in expert mechs even better, leading to a much faster collapse of the Golden Skull Alliance's battle lines. From an objective point of view, the Cross Clan definitely earned the most merits in battle. Of course, it was also due to their presence in the expeditionary fleet that the Fridaymen managed to invite the traitor clans to take part in the ambush in the first place. The alliance members didn't quibble over this detail. It was not as if the Crossers were obligated to help the Larkinsons and Glory Seekers fight the Fridaymen. The moment they signed the alliance treaty, they formed a mutual defense pact that encouraged them to form a united front against external enemies. In consideration of the Cross Clan's huge contributions, it gained the lion's share of spoils. The Crossers obtained 50 percent of mech wreck salvage, 65 percent of the enemy starship salvage and 5 expert mech wrecks. In addition to obtaining the very valuable Erin Tear, the Imperial Verdict and the Trost, they also managed to rope in the Ulver Quinn and the Prava Lonestar. Part of the reason why the Larkinsons and Glory Seekers agreed to hand over so much loot was to keep the Crossers happy enough. If they perceived that they were being shortchanged, there was a very realistic possibility that they might leave the alliance! Not even Professor Benedict Cortez or Patriarch Reginald Cross could stop all of the rank-and-file from demanding a separation. After all, they just lost a huge amount of battle comrades. Hardly any of the Crossers were in a mood to go on a risky adventure in the Red Ocean at this time! "We need the protection of the Cross Clan even more at this delicate time." Major Verle explained to Ves. "Through this battle, we have learned that the Crossers are honorable, upright warriors who can be relied upon to cover our backs. It's quite difficult to secure valuable allies like these. Much of the spoils we have surrendered is actually their 'pay' for protecting us in the next couple of years." "That's.. reasonable." Ves murmured. He was fine with this. He wasn't particularly greedy for the other salvage. Their main value lied in how much money they could yield when sold to salvaging companies. Was the Larkinson Clan short of money? No! Therefore, Ves personally felt it was beneath his clan to drop to its knees and grab as much trash on the ground as possible. The Cross Clan was in the opposite situation. While the addition of their latest guest designer certainly alleviated their income concerns, Professor Cortez did not come with a large-scale mech company. Their desire to restore the strength they used to hold back when they led the Becker Tribe meant they needed to make huge investments. They had to acquire a lot of starships, a lot of mechs and possibly hire and nurture a lot of talents. All of that cost money! A huge amount of money! It shouldn't be any surprise that the Crossers were very greedy for the salvage. In any case, Ves was fine with letting them hunt down all of the broken pieces strewn around in space. There was no way that any of them could sweep the entire battlefield of valuable debris in a short amount of time. Ves wasn't sure whether any of their starships had enough cargo capacity to store it all. Eventually, the expeditionary fleet had to resume its journey. The debris field definitely attracted a lot of vultures. While individual outfits didn't pose a threat to the expeditionary forces, it would be a different matter if other Garlener clans and tribes dropped by. Aside from that, staying in this border system also exposed the weakened fleet to attacks from other powerful state actors. It was best to reach a star system that offered a much greater degree of protection. Major Verle laid out their awful situation in very clear terms. "We are effectively down to 15 to 20 percent of our original battle strength, sir. We not only lost a lot of standard mechs, but effectively lost all but one of our expert mechs. The Amphis alone cannot possibly shield us against a hostile force that deploys multiple expert mechs." "We still have our prime mechs." "Those mechs are subject to many limitations, and you know it. The fact of the matter is that we are simply not in shape to fight another battle. That's not a critical concern if we are near the Hexadric Hegemony or other friendly territory, but that is not the case right now. The only chance we have is to enter a neutral, trade-oriented star system where the local rulers guarantee the safety of visitors." "We need to reach the Life Research Association as soon as possible." Ves concluded. "Correct, sir. There's more. In my talks with Colonel Ariadne Wodin and Patriarch Reginald Cross, we came to the conclusion that our ratios of mechs-to-starships is so low that we cannot adequately ensure our safety for the next couple of months." Something was afoot here. "What are you getting at, major?" "We.. are thinking about contracting mercenaries." Ves immediately froze. "Mercenaries?" "Yes. Mercenaries." Verle confirmed. "They're not as bad as you think." "That hasn't been my experience with soldiers-for-hire. They're cowards and can't be relied upon to fight against serious opposition." "Mercenary corps come in all shapes and sizes, Ves. You can't paint them all with a single brush. While it is true that the lowest grade of mercenaries are unreliable, it's a different story as long as we pay serious money. Also, don't forget that second-class mercenary corps are much more trustworthy and professional than any third-class mercenary corps. They're also vastly stronger as well. The largest mercenary organizations can supply enough protection to guard us against any enemies for a reasonable amount of time." These were reasonable arguments. Ves acknowledged that much of his views on mercenaries were colored by his mixed experiences with the Oodis Mudriders years ago. Then again, he should have known better to employ a mercenary corps with a black mark on their record. Ves had another reason to be reluctant about hiring mercenaries. "This is going to cost us a lot, right?" Major Verle nodded. "Every partner will have to give up a portion of the share of the earnings gained from processing our spoils. In order to protect us against most possible threats, we need to do business with powerful mercenary organizations that are at least the size of a mech regiment. They're very expensive to hire on short notice and without establishing an existing relationship. In the absence of favorable conditions, we can only secure a contract by paying a hefty premium. A short-term monthly contract will already cost us several billion hex credits, and that doesn't address their battle pay." "What?!"