The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4897

The establishment of the Warborn Mech Division represented a closer entanglement between the Golden Skull Alliance and the Colonial Federation of Davute.

The Larkinsons and the Crossers no longer limited their support for the state in the form of industry, commerce or technological exchanges.

If that was all they did, then they could still avoid associations with the Davutans if this proved to be inconvenient.

That was no longer the case anymore.

Ves and his allies had formally crossed a line by offering their troops and mechs to the Federal Military in a time where war loomed closer with each passing day.

The fact that the Larkinsons and the Crossers not only provided tens of thousands of soldiers, but also numerous expert pilots as well as its only ace pilot was a massive commitment!

What President Yenames Clive and the colonial government cared about the most was Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Mars!

The addition of such a powerful and symbolic strategic asset substantially boosted the morale and the actual combat strength of the recently founded colonial federation!

It served as an authentic vote of confidence and dispelled a lot of fear and uncertainty that had spread ever since the Karlachs launched a surprise attack in the Government District.

Even though the tragedy that occurred that day led to many deaths and horrible memories, it only took a single month for all of the pessimistic attitudes to fade.

The federal president, his administration and the backers behind him all worked extremely hard to placate key stakeholders.

Davute became even more attractive of a trade destination than before now that the state granted increased autonomy, greater access and more explicit support to the strong or wealthy pioneering organizations that continued to arrive in the new frontier.

Many different colonies and colonial states sought to bring these powerful talents and groups into their camps.

Though Davute and Karlach both developed their own strategies to build up a stronger network of supporters, they were hardly the only game in the region.

Many more nascent states had emerged that offered their own favorable terms. The larger, stronger and better funded ones offered more attractive terms.

Davute and Karlach actually did not rank among the top of these growing colonial states. They could only settle in the middle of the ranking of second-rate states. Neither of them were able to attract too many pioneering organizations at the caliber of the Golden Skull Alliance.

"How is Davute doing these days?" Ves asked Minister Shederin Purnesse as he paid a visit to the older man's office in the Cat Nest.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had grown a lot busier after the founding of the Colonial Federation of Davute.

The Larkinson Clan might not be the strongest party in the local scene, but it was definitely a player that punched above its weight!

"It is difficult to form an accurate assessment of Davute, Ves." The diplomat said. "The situation is changing quickly. Public data is scarce and we do not have access to the colonial government's metrics. We can only base our analysis on many indicators that are obvious on the surface. Right now I would say that Davute is doing as well as it can hope, but that is not enough to overpower Karlach."

Ves expected as much. The two colonial states were too even in many regards. It was hard for either of them to overpower the other.

"Alright, forget about Davute for the time being. How close are we to welcoming the Adelaides and the Boojays into the Golden Skull Alliance? We need their help in order to hunt down the opponents we need to harvest the MTA merits and first-class materials we need to comprehensively upgrade our combat assets. The sooner we reach quasi-first class standards, the more we can guarantee our safety. We won't become invincible, but the combination of a roving fleet and a mech force that is practically undefeatable in the middle zones of the Red Ocean will buy us a lot of development time."

"I am aware of your layout, sir. My office and I are working as hard as we can to conclude the treaty negotiations as soon as possible, but we cannot work any faster. The Golden Skull Alliance is not as small and casual as before. A vast amount of people have become involved. The two ace pilots of the Adelaides and the Boojays also represent massive bargaining chips. We are essentially providing these two groups with their own kinship networks in order to secure a promise that Saint Marissa Lewandowski and Saint Kalasandra Boojay will accompany and protect our expeditionary fleet. This may sound like a simple exchange, but the details are extremely crucial as we want the ace pilots to affirm these promises in their own words."

Ves nodded. He understood the gravity of the situation. High-ranking mech pilots always abided by their words. The moment they broke a single promise was the moment they threw away all of their chances of advancing any further!

He only needed to remind himself of his grandfather Benjamin to know how much their vows and convictions dictated their lives for good or ill.

"Make sure they won't be able to get away from this demand." He told him. "Kinship networks are immensely valuable, but it doesn't really cost me anything to make them for different groups, so don't worry about whether we have to make great sacrifices. I am more worried about ruffling the feathers of the Big Two and inducing a backlash from the general public."

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