Ves had an entire night to sleep and think over Aurelia's suggestions. The parallel development strategy that she espoused to him last evening already lined up with his prior thoughts. He already developed a desire to establish lots of branches in as many zones of the new frontier as possible. The difference was that he did not really pay much attention to the size and scope of those branches. Whether those branches amounted to a single rented office on a rural planet or a massive industrial empire in a more developed colony, their importance did not fundamentally change in his eyes. This was because Ves always held the psychological expectation that his main fleet would always maintain unquestionable primacy over all of its branches. By concentrating a large quantity of elite mechs and mech pilots as well as maintaining a firm hold over all of the expert mechs, the fleet would always remain synonymous with his clan. That assumption would definitely start to break down once the Davute Branch not only started to field several military mech regiments, but also gained its own expert mechs! His daughter was right that the main fleet had the mechs and mech pilots to spare for this side branch. Aurelia was also right about the virtues of pursuing a parallel development strategy. It just left a bad taste in his mouth that he effectively had little choice in the matter. It was other people that forced this decision onto him and his clan. As he commiserated with Minister Shederin Purnesse, Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse, General Verle and Director Calabast during a high-level meeting, his advisors showed broad acceptance of this course change. "As long as we allocate more resources to the Davute Branch, we can transform it into a symbiotic element of the local colonial state." Novilon shared his opinion. "We will need to implement numerous administrative changes in order to accommodate this development, but in the end our clan will become stronger and more diverse in the end. With the Golden Cat watching over us, we do not have to fear a more permanent split. The different groupings of Larkinsons should always be ready to support each other." His father Shederin nodded in agreement. "It is similar to the dynamic between the Larkinson Clan and the Larkinson Family. The former had always been stronger than the latter, but due to the unbreakable ties between the two, the clan has always subsidized and supported the much weaker family. We can apply the same strategy between the main fleet and its various branches. Today it is the branches that need the fleet's assistance. Perhaps in a decade from now it is the fleet that requires the aid of the branches." Calabast — who also happened to be Novilon's spouse — directed her attention towards Ves. "You feel pissed, right?" "Wouldn't you feel the same way if you were in my place?" "That I do, but I would also possess the maturity and logic to understand that the pros outweigh the cons. The issue that you are struggling with is that you have treated the clan and its people too much as your personal possessions. I get it. The clan originally started off this way, but it has grown to the point where its leaders and talents need space and freedom to develop on their own terms. Venerable Ark Larkinson may have different ideas on what the Larkinsons should do, but he can still be trusted to stand up for the Davute Branch and lead its forces in a responsible manner." Ves crossed his arms and snorted. "Hah! The Larkinson Family under his leadership barely managed to stay afloat! Without the support of our clan, those relatives of mine would have gone under within a year." "That was because they were out of their element." His spymaster retorted. "People such as Ark Larkinson and the original members of your family are all accustomed to living in a proper state. Once they join the Davute Branch and return to a more familiar life pattern by fighting for the local government, it is highly likely that they will show their strengths once again. Even if I am wrong, it is still worth it to give them all a chance." It seemed that everyone else except Ves had no problem with Ark's initiative at all. This was funny because his uncle hadn't even formally joined the clan at this moment! Ves turned to his trusty military general. "What do you think, Quinlist?" "I would prefer it if you do not call me by that name." General Verle coughed. "It is not my place to espouse my own political viewpoints. You and your group can settle that yourselves. As the head of the Larkinson Army, I can tell you that the years of peaceful development in the Red Ocean has made many of our servicemen eager for action. Those same years has also allowed us to accumulate enough reservists to quickly make up for any transfers and shuffling." "Is Ark correct in his suspicion that he is able to attract enough clansmen to his mech regiments?" "I can foresee that our clan's participation in the war will attract enough interest to give Venerable Ark the mech pilots and support personnel that he needs without issue. We will not have to force our clansmen to fight in the upcoming war. The same applies to our expert pilots. I think it is an especially good idea to allow any willing expert candidates and expert pilots to hone their skill in a conventional war. We still have enough left over to meet the needs of our fleet. If that is not enough, we can also pursue a more targeted strategy to increase the rate of breakthroughs in our mech legions." Ves and General Verle had talked about that in the past. If a situation ever came about where the Larkinson Clan scraped through a difficult battle and lost much of its expert pilots, then they might decide to seek out battles that were especially conducive to producing new expert candidates and expert pilots. Perhaps other groups may find this to be a slow and difficult process to complete, but the Larkinson Clan was much different. As long as the Everchanger changed to Lufa as its design spirit and began to radiate the transcendence glow throughout a large section of the battlefield, the probability of producing breakthroughs would definitely skyrocket! For example, Ves had been keeping a closer eye on Lanie Larkinson. The young woman who used to be an adorable little girl had shown an abundance of talent. Her growth and development had also been impressive even among other talented Larkinson mech pilots. The only issue now was that she had grown so quickly that she was having trouble overcoming her first bottleneck. The transition from ordinary to extraordinary was the first and most difficult step that any mech pilot could take in their careers. His recent heartfelt talk with his grandfather Benjamin had given Ves a more serious understanding of the limitations and dangers of pursuing this path of transcendence. No mech pilot should ever make this transition casually or without making sufficient preparation. Even if Ves possessed the solutions to enable Lanie to overcome her bottleneck and become an expert candidate in an instant, he refused to employ this option. It was better for her to gather her strength and defeat this obstacle through her own efforts. This was the only way to ensure that Lanie would continue to build her strength step by step without incurring any flaws that could stop her hopes of becoming a god pilot. Still, if the Larkinson Clan suffered an acute shortage of expert pilots, then Ves may have to make the difficult decision to produce premature breakthroughs. The pilots that would advance through this easy process may be able to become expert pilots with ease, but Ves believed that this may also reduce their chances of becoming an ace pilot! Of course, nothing was impossible, and the strong always had a way of compensating for their flaws by relying on sheer willpower. This made Ves feel a little better about this desperation option. Anything was possible as long as the clan and its mech pilots still had a future. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 The discussion in the secure meeting room continued. The various leaders exchanged their opinions on how extensively the clan would become affected if the Davute Branch ever rose to prominence in its own right. They needed to make a lot of changes and adjustments in the clan in order to make this course change work. Ves left the actual work to the others. All he cared about was how his expeditionary fleet was supposed to proceed now that Ark and his supporters intended to go off and play soldier again. "We have started to exchange more information with the Adelaide Third Fleet and the Boojay Family." General Verle informed Ves. "We have a more extensive understanding of their military strength and capabilities. They are more than capable of pulling their own weight in an expedition, as we have already seen during Operation Lighthouse. The arrival of the Jedda Sandivar and the Royal Jeem will compensate for the departure of the Mars for the most part." "What do you mean by 'for the most part'?" Ves suspiciously asked. "Well, as you know, the Mars is primarily a ranged ace mech. Her powerful ARCEUS System gives us the ability to take out acute threats from longer distances and assault enemy warships without getting too close to a powerful enemy's security perimeter. I would say that it is the ace mech that is best adapted to combat alien warships." "Oh, that. I understand what you mean now, general. You have indeed raised a good point. The Jedda Sandivar is an ace light skirmisher, so its ability to punch through transphasic energy shields is among the weakest. The Royal Jeem is an ace spearman mech that can partially imitate the function of a lancer mech, so it is much stronger in this aspect, but it can only deliver a single powerful impact per attack run." These were major limitations that necessitated a change in planning, preparation and doctrine. Ves had no illusions that the Fractured House of the Collapsing Star was the last formidable alien battleship that his expeditionary fleet might confront. This was especially the case when he desired to actively seek them out so that he could strip them of all of their juicy first-class bulk materials! The entire Golden Skull Alliance had to find solutions to maximize the ability for the two incoming ace mechs to break open these gigantic metal treasure coffins. "Didn't you complete a series of commissions to upgrade the main armaments of the ace mechs in question?" Calabast reminded Ves. "I did." Ves smiled as he thought of how he turned the twin daggers of the Jedda Sandivar and the potent spear of the Royal Jeem into blessed weapons. "It should help us out a lot. Unlike Reginald who is incredibly insistent on rejecting external help, I think that Saint Marissa Lewandowski and Saint Kalasandra Boojay may be more open to the need to call upon the power of the Phase King to drastically enhance the penetration power of their attacks." General Verle looked satisfied. "That should ultimately give our expeditionary fleet a greater chance of breaching the defenses of alien warships. The two ace pilots may have to learn how to work together and coordinate their actions in order to defeat the tougher enemy vessels." There were many ways to compensate for the loss of a bunch of mech pilots and expert pilots. When Ves thought about his ambitious plan to slowly upgrade all of the standard mechs in his fleet to quasi-first-class standards, then the shortfall of numerous expert mechs might not make much of a difference in the end! As long as the expeditionary fleet could field 10,000 quasi-first-class mechs, they should gain the capital to put up a good fight against most alien warships without requiring any further support!