The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4723

As much as Ves disliked confronting Ark on an unpleasant matter, they had to do what was necessary to clear the air between them. They could not afford to remain divided in opinion.

Ves crossed his arms and broached the matter directly. "I thought we had an understanding, uncle. You would join our clan and either hole up in the Davute Branch or join me in my expeditions in order to seek your opportunity to break through in battle. In the meantime, I would start work on a new expert mech design project that will replace your current expert mech with a supermachine that is far more powerful than the initial version of the Mars. What happened?"

Ark did not immediately answer. He looked up for a few seconds as if he needed to think on how to phrase his answer.

"Nothing happened." The older Larkinson eventually replied. "I was approached by a representative of the colony and heard out a generous proposal that just happens to fulfill all of my needs, including the ones that I was not aware of until recently. Before this meeting, I already chose to settle into the Davute Branch for several years. Joining you on your expedition makes little sense when it takes at least a year or two for me to receive your promised living expert mech. I thought I may as well reside on this planet and help the members of the Larkinson Family integrate into the clan."

"Why didn't you stick to that, then? Why throw yourself into another group's war?"

"Because it is no longer someone else's war to us, Ves. From the moment I chose to join the Davute Branch, I am also slated to become a citizen of Davute. In other words, this state will soon become my new home."

"The Larkinson Clan is supposed to be your new home. It is not a fully functioning state as of yet, but it is getting there. Davute is only a supply point in my perspective."

"I am sorry, Ves, but I have to disagree with you on this." Ark replied. "Citizenship is a serious matter. It bestows me with both rights and responsibilities. There is a universal expectation that the strong and the capable of any state must step up and come to its defense. Since I am more than able to fight in a war between different states, I feel obligated to lend my considerable skills to my new home state."

Bang!

Ves slammed his fist against the metal table in frustration! "Our clan also needs your considerable skills, you know! What happened to the notion of putting family first?! What you are doing is nothing less than favoring a stranger's fight over the legitimate needs of our clan!"

His arguments did not sway the expert pilot.

"That is where I have to disagree with you again, kiddo." Ark calmly responded as he took no notice of his nephew's outburst. "While I may be in limbo at the moment, I am constantly keeping the best interests of the Larkinsons in mind. Mind you, that does not necessarily equate to your personal interests."

"Are you just saying that in order to excuse your break in policy with me, or are you actually being serious about this, uncle?"

Ark shook his head. "Ves, Ves, Ves. You should know that I would never joke around serious matters like these. As I have stated earlier, I take my responsibilities extremely seriously. While I am looking to serve Davute as one of its new citizens, I have not forgotten my obligations to our fellow Larkinsons. I merely believe that I can best serve both of their interests by taking the generous offer extended by the government."

Ves let out a sound in frustration. "You will have to explain that to me, because from what I am seeing, your decisions will take away valuable combat assets from our expeditionary fleet."

"That is a one-sided characterization of what will happen. Let me give you the other side considering that you have conveniently neglected to mention it. First, I am bringing in more carrier vessels and more particularly fleet carriers into our clan. This is extremely important as you well know. It is almost impossible to buy them on the open market as every state is mainly concerned about deploying them into a war that will determine their future status in the Red Ocean. The best way to get more ships in this climate is to promise to help a state fight its war."

This was a simple win-win arrangement. Davute would get to deploy more forces and increase its chances of winning the war while the Larkinson Clan hopefully retained a lot of carrier vessels at the end!

"There are two flaws in the scenario that you have sketched." Ves responded in a gruff tone. "First, there is no guarantee that Davute can win the war at all. From the intelligence that I have read, Karlach is gearing up to be a considerably more militaristic state. The armed forces of Karlach will certainly not be weak and will certainly exhibit greater unity and coordination against the scattered troops of Davute."

Uncle Ark shrugged his shoulders. "The same has been said of the differences between the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony. You know very well who won the war between the two states in our home star sector."

"Pff!" Ves snorted. "This is hardly a valid comparison! There are way more circumstances that have affected the outcome of that stupid war. If you want to bring in the conflict between the Fridaymen and the Hexers as an example, then think about this. Despite siding with the Hexers in the Komodo War, all my clan and I have done is to provide assistance by remote in the form of fulfilling mech design commissions and giving them my moral support. When the Hexadric Hegemony eventually fell, I remained safe and largely unaffected because I did not accept the invitation of the Hexers to settle my clan in their doomed state."

Of course, a more pertinent reason why Ves vehemently rejected any notion of getting further entangled with the Hexadric Hegemony was because he disliked and disagreed with the Hexers and their original culture with a passion!

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