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There was a huge gap between soldiers who fought for fortune and those who were willing to fight and die for a state!

However, the rules of the Milky Way did not apply to a frontier region.

States that were less than a decade old did not exist long enough to instill a strong sense of loyalty and patriotism among its people.

Since states could not rely on duty to incentivize people to fight, then they could only resort to naked interests to obtain the necessary soldiers!

The struggle for territory was harsh and pivotal to the future of many states. Ves knew quite well how dramatically a win or a loss could affect the fortunes and the power balance of entire regions for generations to come.

Back when the Komodo Star Sector initially opened up, the founders of states like the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom used to be legitimate contenders in the struggle to form second-rate states.

However, both of their groups got smashed so much by the competition that they had little choice but to settle in the periphery of the star sector.

It was groups like the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony that managed to win more battles than others and managed to retain their hold on all of the richer territories.

Now, this pattern was about to take place again on a wider scale in the Red Ocean. Every zone in the new frontier was just begging to be divided by ambitious pioneers!

The only requirement was that these pioneers were able to defeat their closest rivals on the battlefield.

There was no way for the founders of these nascent states to capture more territories if they ran out of mech troops too soon!

This was why the people in charge of places like Davute would soon extend olive branches to mercenaries.

The need for soldiers was too great! In the face of the huge amount of power, wealth and resources that powerful states could obtain, the great cost and considerable risks of absorbing mercenaries were no big deal!

Besides, the mercenaries who accepted these deals were more than willing to undergo a career change.

While the private sector offered fewer restrictions to mech pilots, there was nothing honorable about being a mercenary.

Soldiers possessed more pride, honor and acceptance. Combined with the rich incentives offered by rising states, the former mercenaries were more than willing to fight for the chance of founding their own military families and dynasties!

In fact, this was exactly what happened to the original Larkinson Family. Didn't the Larkinson Ancestor offer his services to the founders of the Bright Republic and fight for greater rights and honor for his descendants?

Although the Larkinsons and many other loose forces started off as soldiers for hire, once the Bright Republic integrated them in the Mech Corps, they turned into the first military cadre of a growing state!

Ves already studied the history of his former family a long time ago, but he did not equate its circumstances to the conditions of the Red Ocean until recently.

Now that Shederin enlightened him, Ves fully understood Davute's greater trends and what would happen in the coming years!

He also recognized that there were several ways in which the Larkinson Clan could rise by taking advantage of several openings!

Many of these opportunities sounded tempting to Ves, but as he recalled his priorities, he quickly tempered his desires.

"I don't want our clan to become too attached to any state." Ves reminded his foreign minister. "Look, I get it. There is a rare and valuable chance for us to become one of the founding groups of a powerful second-rate state. However, all of this talk about becoming a part of a rising military-industrial complex sounds extremely dubious to me. I don't want our clan to become anchored to a state centered around Davute. The Red Ocean still has a lot more to offer to us and the Krakatoa Middle Zone is only a part of its periphery."

Minister Shederin raised his hand. "It doesn't have to go that far, sir. Following my plan doesn't mean that we will become completely dependent on Davute. It is hard to disentangle ourselves from the new state if we offer our services to it as mercenaries, but we will enjoy much greater leeway if we merely stick to our role as a provider of mechs."

A mech manufacturer could be a useful addition to a state, but it was never an indispensable part of one. The larger ones tended to sell their products in many markets.

While it was true that mech companies and mech designers could offer favorable services to the states they were more attached to, these relationships weren't necessarily permanent.

It was normal for companies to rise and fall. The mech market was dynamic and today's winners could turn into tomorrow's losers.

Due to this, many states adopted a more utilitarian attitude towards mech companies, at least at the beginning.

After Minister Shederin explained this dynamic, Ves did not feel as opposed to the plan anymore.

"A military-industrial complex describes a deep and mutually-beneficial entanglement between certain military organizations and friendly arms manufacturers. What you need to distinguish here is that only the former are permanently attached to states. If you want to get out, then you can do so without paying a ruinous price. Unlike professional military organizations, companies are expected to value their own interests over that of their states. As long as we make our intentions clear from the start, the outcomes that you fear will never come true."

Ves fell silent for a moment as he thought about how the Larkinson Clan could benefit if it participated in this game.

The risks were still considerable, and he wasn't sure whether the Larkinson Clan would be able to gain a solid footing in the regional economy in a single decade.

"I admit that I am attracted by the prospect of becoming one of the key suppliers of an established military unit, but there is a key variable that determines whether we can succeed or fail."

"What variable are you referring to, sir?"

"The strength of the mercenary organizations that we are able to partner with." Ves answered. "If we can only gain the cooperation of a few marginal mercenary outfits, then I don't see how we will be able to gain enough influence and benefits. We need to win over stronger mercenary organizations and security companies in order to gain a stronger voice in a rising state."

Ves based these thoughts on what happened to the Larkinson Family.

The Larkinson Ancestor and his dependents fought hard for the Bright Republic. In the end, while the Larkinson Family earned a lot of honor and recognition from the state, none of this translated to actual power and prosperity!

The founding families that were truly in control of the Bright Republic completely treated the Larkinsons as their hereditary cannon fodder.

The ultimate reason why the Larkinson Family failed to become a part of the upper echelon of the state was because it simply wasn't big and strong enough!

While it was admirable that the Larkinson Family was always able to supply a handful of expert pilots with every generation, the Mech Corps back then employed a lot more demigods, some of which came from even larger military families!

Though Ves did not mind participating in this state-building game, he wanted to back a winning horse instead of another loser comparable to the dumb and gullible Larkinson Family.

"We will take care of this problem." Shederin reassured Ves. "We have already examined hundreds of different mercenary organizations, and we are continuing to study the ones that will arrive in the future. Once we return to Davute, we can start to approach the groups that may be interested in what we have to offer. If we receive any positive responses, I will inform you of our progress so that you can decide how we should proceed."

Ves shrugged. "Well, I guess there's no harm in talking. You can do what you want as long as you don't make any serious commitments on my behalf. I want to meet with the leaders of these mercenary groups before I decide whether to get in bed with them. If we want to enter into a long-term partnership with any of them, then I want to make sure that they are trustworthy."

The two talked a bit more about this plan before Minister Shederin left..

This was actually just one of several different plans to facilitate the rise of the Larkinson Clan. Even if Minister Shederin's diplomacy initiatives failed to yield the desired results, Ves could still bank on his other plans to gain a foothold in the region.

Ves thought about his commercial ambitions and his shared research initiatives with the MTA. These were just a few of the activities that would surely boost his clan in a generation.

His current goal was to turn the Larkinson Clan into a city-state on the move!

This was an ambitious goal, but an attainable one in his opinion. With the huge amount of MTA merits and resources he obtained, he possessed a powerful head start that he did not intend to waste.

"I need to start moving as soon as my fleet returns to the Davute System."

Days went by as the expeditionary fleet continued on its journey. After briefly stopping at a high-traffic star system that was not too far away from Davute, the fleet finally embarked on its last leg of the journey!

A lot of Larkinsons and other people were already looking forward to enjoying a long and well-deserved vacation.

The stress and pressure they accrued during the Purgatory Campaign needed to be released, and what better way to do so than to allow the clansmen to spend their huge bonuses in a booming colony?

Even Ves looked forward to winding down for a week. He looked forward to bringing his daughter down to a planet where she could gain all kinds of new experiences.

Ves smiled as he thought about organizing his first family vacation.

However, when he approached his wife in order to discuss how they should spend their leisure time, she brought up a matter that he hadn't been paying attention to lately.

"Our students are close to graduating into mech designers." Gloriana said.

"Huh? So soon?"

"They've completed all of the compulsory courses that we have specified." His wife continued. "They also finished enough optional courses to start forming their own design philosophies. At this stage in their studies, it is no longer useful for them to stick to book learning. They are ready to design their first mechs. Let's assign them their graduation assignments. As long as they can independently design a functioning second-class mech from scratch, we can officially recognize them as Novice Mech Designers."

Novice Mech Designers. This was a trivial rank to Ves, but every new mech designer had to start somewhere.

After several years of study, Maikel Larkinson, Zanthar Larkinson, Maisie Ann Larkinson and Rennie Larkinson were finally ready to create their own mechs!

A lot had changed since the start of their studies under Ves and Gloriana. As the Larkinson Clan continued to prosper, the students prospered as well.

They received better treatment and gained access to better learning resources. Ves and Gloriana continually raised their expectations of the four Larkinson seeds and the adolescents did not disappoint!

Although Ves did not think that the four trueblood Larkinsons were the most brilliant mech design students in existence, they were anything but average mech designers!

Ves had taught a lot of knowledge and passed on a lot of unique ideas to Maikel and Zanthar. Both of them were so heavily influenced by him that their chosen specialties had a lot of relations with his own design philosophy!

As long as Maikel and Zanthar managed to get their footing as mech designers, they could offer a lot of assistance to Ves in the coming years!