Ves spent a few minutes on keeping Marvaine company before he set his son down.
For his part, the energetic little boy ran off to the nearby sandbox in order to start building a sandcastle with the help of the toy building blocks placed nearby.
After making sure that Marvaine was okay when playing by himself, he moved on and approached a garden table that was bedecked with tea and snacks.
Gloriana sat on her favorite garden chair as she watched her kids play about without a care in the galaxy.
"Hey, honey."
"Are you done throwing our clan into confusion, Ves?"
"I was just asking questions, Gloriana. That's not a crime."
"You are still the face of our clan! Do you know how many rumors have spread since you have started to ask all of your weird questions? People are beginning to fear that you have lost grip on reality."
Ves dismissively waved his hand. "I don't think the situation is as bad as you make it sound. Once I go back to work and design my mechs as usual, everyone will realize that those stupid rumors have no leg to stand on. I have no intentions of leaving the mech industry if that is what you are afraid about."
It took quite a bit of time for Ves to reassure his wife. He may act foolish at times, but he had not lost a single measure of his love and passion for mech design.
"What's this all about, Ves?" Gloriana asked plainly. "Have you grown antsy because the five-year rebuilding period is almost over? Maybe this is your brain telling you that it is better to stay in Davute. Look at everything we have built. Look at how nice it is to relax in our garden while letting our children play without worrying about getting ambushed by hostile alien fleets. Do we truly have to go on this silly Trailblazer Expedition of yours? Aurelia and Andraste will both grow sad once you rip them away from the friends they made in kindergarten!"
Ves briefly gazed at his two daughters and felt apologetic for a moment. "I am aware of that, Gloriana, but this is for the best. Davute is not our end station. There are many other planets and regions out there that will become a lot more prosperous in the future. In the future, we will sell our products to the entire dwarf galaxy. We need to detach ourselves from this tendency to develop an unreasonable attachment to a single location."
"I'm sure that Aurelia and Andraste will understand when you rip them away from the friends they made in the last few years."
Ves grew annoyed. "There are plenty of other kids in the Golden Skull Alliance that they can get along with! So many Larkinsons have started their own families that our kids will have all the friends they need!"
"I already told you that it is bad for their development that they can only get along with other Larkinsons most of the time! They need to spend more time with peers from other organizations! Not only will they learn to socialize with their equals, they can also forge new friendships with different groups! We'll throw all of this away if you take our children out of the planet that they have grown up on for all of their lives!"
This wasn't the first time they argued about this contentious topic. Each time, Ves allowed his wife to vent, but at the end of the day he did not budge from his stance.
His clan had invested too much in the upcoming expedition. All of the planning, buildup and reparation work had put the Golden Skull Alliance in the most optimal state to commence a grand expedition into dangerous territories. A single woman's opinion was far from enough to stop this enormous development from taking place.
Ever since Ves announced the Trailblazer Expedition, he and his clan had made sure to prep all of the Larkinsons for this dangerous but incredibly exciting venture.
A lot of older or more risk-averse clansmen had been allowed to transfer to the Davute Branch. Ves did not want to force anyone to go on this dangerous trip and he fully understood why plenty of clansmen wanted to live a calmer and more stable life.
Many young parents had voluntarily accepted the price of demoting from a main branch member to a side branch member in order to get away from all of the fighting that would undoubtedly commence.
Everyone knew that a lot of Larkinsons eventually sacrificed their lives in past campaigns and expeditions. Ves was not exactly the most careful leader and while his victories were great, the price that everyone paid to secure them was also significant!
Gloriana's attitude happened to align with all of the clansmen that had opted to transfer out of the main fleet. She, like everyone else with this mindset, wanted to sit back and enjoy the wealth and privileges that the Larkinson Clan had already attained through great effort.
Unfortunately, Gloriana was no ordinary Larkinson. She was the wife of the patriarch and the second-highest ranking mech designer of the Larkinson Clan.
There was no way she could transfer to the Davute Branch!
She was way too high profile and would make herself and her children incredibly vulnerable to attacks once the main fleet left the Davute System.
Even though the Larkinson Clan had built up a large and numerous garrison force at their Davute Branch, there was a distinct lack of expert pilots and elite troops that could fend off powerful enemies.
Aside from that, transferring away from the main fleet also meant that she would be moving away from the center of power of the Larkinson Clan.
There was no way she would be able to wield as much influence within the clan if she literally sidelined herself!
This was an unacceptable consequence to Gloriana!
The result of this was that Gloriana had no choice but to stay with Ves and take her children on an exceedingly dangerous expedition that was completely unnecessary in her eyes!
It was no surprise to Ves that she grew cranky because of that. As the time of departure grew closer, her complaints grew more frequent.
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