The returning expeditionary fleet quickly felt the consequences of all of the increased traffic. Traffic control became swamped and many space lanes had become completely occupied. The number of inspection ships on duty had multiplied by 10 as all of the incoming visitors needed to be checked in case they were terrorists or saboteurs who intended to ruin the founding ceremony. The orbit of Davute VII had actually become a lot less busy as the colonial administration had already pushed most fleets and ships away. The only ships and mechs that were allowed to linger within a certain distance from the planet were those that already pledged to serve the colonial state as part of its future mech military. For now, most of those mech forces still belonged to many different private organizations. Their diverse colors and markings remained unchanged which made for a chaotic and disorganized impression. Even so, as Ves read the opinions on the galactic net and observed how eager so many people wanted to travel to Davute VII, he recognized that optimism was high. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦 pαпdα-ň?νê|·сóМ "People really believe in this future state." This was a good sign. The people who invested in Davute from the beginning made plenty of preparations. They formulated a detailed plan and made many moves to address problems before they had a chance to break out. The fact that the settlements in the port system grew into highly developed cities and metropolises in a matter of years showed how well they built up its foundation. The smooth development of Davute gave a lot of people a lot of confidence in its future potential. Its leaders and statesmen demonstrated an abundance of planning, foresight, preparation, wisdom and generosity. Even Ves felt tempted to join the party if he hadn't experienced betrayal at the hands of their hypocritical kind in the past. He felt as if he was one of the few people in the entire star system who remained sober enough to recognize that the primary goal of the upcoming colonial state was to exploit its future citizens. Just like how the descendants of the Larkinson Family had fought and bled for a Bright Republic that never properly rewarded them for their centuries-long service, a lot of fools and romantic idiots were already falling into line just so that they could get used in the exact same way! The only people he could have a proper conversation about this topic was Calabast and a handful of Purnessers. Ves felt pretty upset at Minister Shederin Purnesse for accepting an invitation against instructions, so he took his frustrations to his strategic partner. "I don't blame Shederin for making this decision." Calabast's projection stated. "You need to grow up and look outside of your perspective. You may aspire to turn our clan into a fully independent, nomadic and spaceborn fleet, but that doesn't work out in practice. We need branches like the one we have in Davute to give our people a chance to live on a proper planet and to provide the LMC with the ability to produce its own mechs en masse. Since we cannot avoid entanglement with states, we have to accept that this is a necessity and properly manage our relationships with them. Grow up, Ves." That was not what Ves wanted to hear. He crossed his arms in a petulant manner. "I feel tempted to turn our expeditionary fleet around and head over to an entirely different port system. Maybe it is time we leave Krakatoa behind and explore a newer and fresher middle zone." "That is not a wise decision, and your allies are unlikely to agree with you. I know the Cross Clan will insist on reorganizing its fleet here. Just like us, the Crossers have founded a sizable branch on Davute VII and built up a lot of trustworthy and reliable business relationships in this industrial hub. It will be several times harder and more expensive for the both of us to reorganize our forces and recover our strength. Don't disrupt everyone's plans due to purely personal and subjective feelings." She was right. Ves could not afford to let too much of his selfishness mess up his clan and alliance. He needed to be a responsible leader and stick to making rational decisions. The larger his organization had become, the more important it was for him to project stability. Once he calmed down a bit, he accepted her words. "I guess you are right, Calabast. That doesn't mean I like it. No matter what, nothing can make me develop a sense of belonging to Davute. I will continue to work to minimize our entanglements and commitments to the upcoming colonial state. I think we should also move our fleet away from this zone sooner or later in order to remind everyone that the endless void of space is our true home." The spymaster smirked and threw a coy glance at him. "That may be easier said than done. My intelligence network has already received rumblings about a massive deal that the colonial administration is preparing to offer to our clan." "Huh? What is this about a deal? I take it that it encompasses more than stuff like taxes and permits." "You are correct in that." She replied. "It has to do with what you do best, which is designing crazily effective mechs that are strong enough to affect the balance of war." He looked confused. "What? There are tons of Master Mech Designers in Davute. Why would the ruling powers ask for my help? I'm just a Journeyman M—" Slap! Calabast's physical projection actually dashed forward and slapped Ves in the face! "Shut up. Don't finish that stupid phrase of yours." She growled. "Be serious for once. The people who built Davute aren't stupid. At least some of them have studied your record and history in great detail. They will easily be able to find out how extensively you propped up the Hexadric Hegemony during the Komodo War by providing a few highly impactful mech models such as the Valkyrie Redeemer. The Davutans will want you to recreate that miracle with their own mech forces so that they can gain a greater advantage against Karlach." Now that Ves thought about it, that made a lot of sense. If he was in the position of the rulers of Davute, he would probably make the same decision! Nonetheless, that didn't mean that he was eager to directly interfere in another war! It was one thing to sell a lot of commercial mechs to the various paramilitary forces that would be fighting for Davute. It was another thing to complete a formal commission from a colonial state! "It's not that simple." Ves replied. "The Hexadric Hegemony lost the Komodo War. Remember? My living Hexer mechs failed to make a difference." The spymaster shook her head. "Only those who make a cursory analysis of the Komodo War would come to that conclusion. Anyone who performs a proper examination will know that the Hexers have doomed themselves from the moment they fired the first shot. Your contributions have done much to prolong their fighting ability and bought enough time for the Hexer dynasties to evacuate the core of their people and more liquid assets. Even to this day, the Valkyrie Redeemer and the Maiden of Adversity still do much to prop up the Hex Federation." "That is because my Hexer mechs have a strong effect on the morale of the Hexer people. My unique capability to tie the Superior Mother and Helena, both of whom the Hexers literally revere as deities, to my works has energized all of their women and boys. Faith and fanaticism are some of the most powerful motivators in existence. There is no universal solution. What works well for the Hexers won't be nearly as effective for a more secularist and pluralistic state." "Glows can have a major positive influence in wars without the involvement of religion, Ves. The Sand War is a great example of that. Your Desolate Soldiers injected a lot of duty among shaky and hesitant mech pilots who were ordered to hold the line against the advancing sandman fleets." Ves didn't entirely accept this argument. "You may be right, but I recall that the Ylvainans got much more use out of the living mechs I designed for them. Again, their religion played a major role in giving me an opening to boost their effective performance. Look, during the Komodo War, the Friday Coalition never developed much of a desire for my products because they don't worship any of my design spirits. The same applies to Davute as it is almost entirely secularist as far as I am aware of. My products may be strong in specific situations, but it is still a stretch to claim they are powerful enough to swing the entire war in Davute's favor. The mechs designed by all of the local Masters are no joke." "You underestimate your influence. You also underestimate the attraction of your mechs. The Davutans have most certainly studied all of the battle footage that is available in public. In particular, the Battle of Pima Prime where we helped the Hex Army defeat the Sundered Phalanx will serve as a highly informative case that demonstrated the great strength and effectiveness of our combat mechs." Ves crossed his arms. "That's nice, but most of the mechs we fielded during that battle are exclusive mech models. The Valkyrie mechs and the new Maiden of Adversity mechs can only be piloted by Hexers. At the same time, our Bright Warriors, Transcendent Punishers, Transcendent Chargers, Second Swords and Redaxes are solely designed to be utilized by our mech legions. Only a few of the mech models such as the Ferocious Piranha have versions that are sold in public." "Why must those aforementioned mech models remain exclusive?" Calabast shot back. "You can earn a substantial amount of easy money, resources and favors if you design variants of those standard mech models that are adapted for use by the mech forces of Davute." "No way! You of all people should know about the importance of maintaining the secrecy and mystery of our staple mechs. Once the Davutans begin to use mechs such as my powerful Nullifiers in large numbers, their strengths and weaknesses will be analyzed until they hardly have any secrets left! That means that once we fight against an opponent that has done his homework, he will immediately know to keep his expert mechs far away and combat the Nullifiers with large numbers of standard mechs!" Calabast still disagreed with his stance. "That may be true for certain key Larkinson-exclusive mechs, but you also have oddballs like the Lucid Rage that aren't really that important to us. They are nice to have, but it won't hurt us if you package it up and make it available to Davute." She may be right in that, but Ves still disagreed with her stance, if only on principle. "Repackaging my existing works in order to earn cheap profits from them is lazy behavior. If Davute wants my work, then I will do a proper job and start a brand new design project from scratch that is precisely attuned to their circumstances, from their material availability to the shortcomings they need to address the most." The spymaster smirked at him. "That sounds like a good plan, Ves. Why don't you offer the Davutans this service? I am sure they will welcome your assistance with open arms!" "Goodbye, Calabast." Ves activated the command that ended the comm call. He rubbed his face and strengthened his resolve to not get dragged into another stupid war, especially one he had no personal stake in. The escalating conflict between Davute and Karlach was nothing more than a mundane contest for hegemony in a region. Such wars were a dime in a dozen in the Red Ocean. None of them had any meaning to them. Just because one such war happened to unfold in close physical proximity to himself didn't automatically mean that he should give a damn about who won or lost.