The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4896

"No."

"Please reconsider your decision, nephew. The Warborn—"

"—The Warborn is a paramilitary mech division that is fighting on behalf of the Colonial Federation of Davute." Ves retorted after he gulped down his glass of champagne. "If I order you to bring your Warborn to the Magair Middle Zone and raid a planet that is claimed by the Friday Colonies, are you permitted to do as I have asked?"

General Ark shook his head after a brief moment. "You know that I cannot do that. The Warborn may be an irregular military mech division, but that does not mean I can abuse my authority to serve private interests."

This was not a surprising answer to Ves. He huffed in response.

"Then I don't see why I have to share all of my good stuff with you." Ves replied. "I am not opposed to allowing our Davute Branch to make use of our clan-exclusive mechs. This is because I know my works will be used for the betterment of our fellow Larkinsons rather than the Davutans. That is not the case with your Warborn."

There was a strong tone of rejection in his voice. Ves needed little time to settle his mind on this issue. Ark may be his uncle, but that did not mean he could use this family connection as an excuse to break the rules!

His uncle looked pained and hurt at this response.

"Ves… please be more compassionate. I am not asking you to go out of your way and design custom-tailored mechs for our Warborn. You only need to make a single decision to give us access to your best-performing mechs. For example, our light mech regiment will make extensive use of your Ferocious Piranha model, but we both know that this product has excellent synergy with your Stingripper model. I do not know why you are willing to sell the former to the public but keep the latter to yourself."

"There are historic reasons for this particular difference." Ves responded without emotion. "It is not your place to dictate the product strategy of the Living Mech Corporation. That is completely up to me and me alone. I have already stated the reasons why I am unwilling to release our clan-exclusive mechs in your mech division's hands."

"Can't you reconsider?" Ark asked. "Many of your works are already numerous years old. They have been used in numerous battles, some of which are completely public. I believe our enemies have already figured out the details of the Larkinson mech models that have been exposed in these engagements."

"That is not an excuse. It is one thing if the Warborn is a mech force that is wholly owned by our Davute Branch. Since your unit effectively answers to the state, you should look in its direction for what you need. As far as I know, the Masters in the service of the colonial federation has designed plenty of strong military mechs for the Federal Military. There is nothing wrong with using them. They may even offer superior performance compared to my own works."

Both the regular and irregular mech divisions of the Federal Military of Davute should have access to internal channels.

At worst, they could requisition standardized military mechs that offer good performance right from the start.

At best, the mech regiments and mech divisions may be able to place mech design commissions so that they could acquire signature mech models that complimented or defined their mech doctrine!

That wasn't enough for Ark.

"I don't need to borrow too many of your clan-exclusive mech models." He said as he took a step back in this negotiation. "We can significantly increase our chances of winning our future battle as long as we can make use of your Transcendent Punisher. We would also like to utilize the Valkyrie Redeemer and the Second Sword."

Ves widened his eyes. "NO! Absolutely not! Those are the three most sensitive and strategic standard mechs of our clan. The former gives us absolute superiority in ranged firefights. The latter two serve as the basis for our battle formations. There is no way that I am giving your Warborn access to the trump cards of our main fleet. Besides, those mech models can't be piloted by just any random soldier. They are highly specific to their respective mech legions."

"Our Warborn has recruited a respectable number of Ylvainans, Penitent Sisters and Swordmaidens." General Ark regained his footing. "They have signed up to us because they want to temper themselves in frequent mech combat. They aren't abandoning you, Ves. They think they can grow faster and have a better chance at breaking through in a conventional war instead of those odd expeditions of yours. Once the war is over, they will return your fleet stronger than ever."

That was true. Ves had investigated the motivations for the mech pilots who had flocked to General Ark's banner and there were plenty of clansmen who only treated this as a high-risk training camp.

The expeditionary fleet suffered from a persistent shortage in mech capacity. Everyone knew that the Larkinson Clan employed an excess amount of mech pilots. It was not necessarily bad for the clan to send off much of its reservists to the Warborn in order to gain a lot of actual combat experience.

"I don't see how this matters." Ves stoically responded. "These pilots you are referring to may be loyal to our clan, but as long as they have chosen to join the Warborn, they have pledged to serve Davute. I don't know about you, but I am absolutely opposed to allowing your colonial state to take advantage of our Transcendent Punishers and our battle formations! It is already generous enough for me to permit our expert pilots to fight alongside your troops. Don't go too far, Ark!"

The conversation between the two quickly died down. Ark severely underestimated how possessive Ves was towards his most effective mech models. The safety and the security of the expeditionary fleet was at stake.

There was not much reason for Ark to stick around for much longer. He couldn't make any progress with Ves and he still needed to mingle with important guests.

Shortly after Ark's departure, General Verle took the high-tier expert pilot's place.

"He asked you permission to use our mech models, right?"

"Right." Ves responded. "Did you foresee this in advance?"

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