The Mech Touch

The Larkinsons maintained an extensive and detailed personnel database. This was pretty much standard practice among many organizations.

None of them wanted to lose track of their own people. That would be stupid and potentially dangerous as the ones they neglected might turn into spies or saboteurs without their notice!

Keeping track of people's movements, actions and other parameters was much easier when they spent most if not all of their time aboard starships that were fully under the control of the respective organization.

The Larkinson Clan recorded more information about its people than normal. Its patriarch was a bit paranoid and valued his ships. The outbreak of the Crown Uprising had spooked him quite a lot, causing him to push for greater monitoring and tracking.

An entire department existed within the clan that primarily busied itself with checking up on and managing over 200,000 clansmen. Though each of them were relatively free to make their own life choices, the Internal Affairs Ministry regularly nudged or advised those that were feeling lost or out of place in the Larkinson fleet.

If Gloriana wanted to get started on forming a list of suitors for her brother, she could just call the Internal Affairs Ministry and ask to run the matchmaking software on its entire database.

She had a better alternative in mind, though.

Although Internal Affairs did collect a lot of details about the lives of every clansman, she happened to know about another wing of the Larkinson Clan that collected even more data!

"I need to make a call." She told Brutus and passed over her daughter to his care. "Look after my baby for me while I get that list I promised."

She raised herself to her feet and stepped away so she could speak to one of the more annoying women in the Larkinson Clan.

Though she did not like to talk to the woman in question, Gloriana had to admit there was no one else who knew the Larkinsons better.

After she fought over her hesitation, she made the command and initiated the call.

A small bust projection of Calabast soon appeared above her suited wrist.

Calabast looked as attractive and dangerous as ever. Her luscious black hair and her fully-equipped infiltrator suit gave her an impression of a woman who knew what she was doing.

The spymaster of the Larkinson Clan would have been a model Hexer if she didn't renounce her original citizenship!

"Gloriana." Calabast spoke without much pretense for politeness. "It is rare for you to approach me on your own initiative. What is it now? Do you want logs of the women that Ves has spent time with the last month? Do you want to download footage of him in the bathroom?"

"None of that today. I am calling because I need the help of your Black Cats in finding a future wife for my brother Brutus. This needs to be done quickly before we run out of time."

"Oh? This sounds interesting. Please explain his situation to me. I take it that this is not a regular request."

Gloriana straightforwardly summarized her brother's predicament and the need to get married quickly.

Calabast didn't laugh, fortunately. She did look amused.

"The boy has finally decided to grow into a man. Bravo. I expected him and the Glory Seekers to diverge from the culture that we all grew up in, but his translation has reached this stage a lot faster than I expected. What a pleasant surprise. Your news has already made my day."

As a former Hexer, Calabast had first-hand experience in transitioning from a typical Hexer to a more reasonable human being that was more aligned to galactic norms and standards.

She applauded any other Hexer that managed to climb out of the pit of ignorance and hatred that was formed by the poisonous culture they grew up with. It was not easy for the Hexers to renounce all of the fundamental teachings they embraced as truth.

"Will you meet my request or not?" Gloriana asked in an irritated tone.

"I will. Don't be so impatient. I will cooperate to the best of my abilities. In my opinion, Venerable Brutus deserves a reward for making a brave decision. His success will serve as an example and an inspiration to the rest of the Glory Seekers!"

As a former Hexer and a spymaster, how could Calabast possibly be ignorant of the developments taking place within the Glory Seekers?

Although the mech force was nominally a part of the Wodin Dynasty and the Hexadric Hegemony, both of these organizations had become increasingly more distant entities to all of the boys and women serving aboard the Indigo Tremor and sister ships.

Due to the strength and prominence of the Larkinson Clan, the Glory Seekers constantly witnessed and came into contact with people who were having a much better time in the expeditionary fleet. This persistent exposure exerted a constant influence on those that had previously lived highly insular lives.

Though few of them had taken the crucial step like Venerable Brutus, it was only a matter of time before the estrangement grew too great.

If the Hexers back home were more aware of how people changed when exposed to different environments and cultures, they would have implemented more measures to prevent the Glory Seekers from straying from their culture.

It was too bad that the people in charge were so conceited about their superiority and so inexperienced with cultural assimilation that they completely missed what was happening!

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Calabast grinned wider. She loved a good show and looked forward to seeing how the situation would develop further.

For now, she had to help Gloriana's older brother complete his own transition.

"I know just what to do. Let me set this up. Give me a few minutes."

After Calabast accessed the database, activated a matchmaking program and configured its settings, she turned her attention back to Gloriana.

"Before I begin with the initial matching process, what specifications do you wish to impose?"

"Please limit the search range to female Larkinsons who are between 20 and 40 years old. They must be healthy, able and have an attractiveness index that is above 0.80. They should not be married or committed to a serious relationship. The candidates must either occupy at least mid-level positions in the clan or have parents that occupy upper-level positions. They must be at least moderately attracted to a male person with my brother's parameters. Please exclude any candidates who are members of the Eye of Ylvaine, the Swordmaidens and the Penitent Sisters."

Most of Gloriana's specifications sounded reasonable if a bit picky, but her last specifications went a bit too far in Calabast's opinion.

"Those groups happen to hold plenty of women who could easily get along with Brutus." Calabast responded. "Why do you want to filter out their names?"

"Do I even need to explain it? Fine. The Ylvainans believe in the wrong god. The Swordmaidens are too crude and uncivilized. I don't think I need to explain why the Penitent Sisters are wholly unqualified to pair up with my brother. Does that offer enough clarity?"

"At least you put thought into the matter. Let me initiate the search."

As soon as Calabast started the process, the Blinding Banshee's processors and AIs became fully active. Every spare processing power was being used to perform an immense amount of calculations, all for the purpose of analyzing as much data on eligible women as possible so that the matchmaking program could estimate the compatibility between them and Brutus!

The software that Calabast employed was not a basic one that only analyzed brief records and documents. They also looked through thousands of hours of footage in order to look for specific patterns of behavior that could enrich the data used to formulate the list.

Neither Calabast nor Gloriana spoke as they patiently waited for the matchmaking program to crunch all of the numbers.

Soon, a chime sounded at Calabast's end of the call. The woman looked at her terminal and curled her lips in amusement.

"Well, well, well. These matchmaking programs indeed know what they are doing."

"Give me the list." Gloriana demanded.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you will be wasting far too much of your time in investigating each of the names in person. I am also afraid that you will harass them with invasive questioning." Calabast answered. "There are over a hundred names on the list. Let me help you by leveraging my expertise in presenting you the women that I think you will find particularly interesting."

"Hurry up, then. I don't have all day."

"Well, you should know the first name quite well. Sara Voiken is a successful Journeyman Mech Designer with bright career prospects. She is single, polite and respectful. Her greatest apparent personality defect is that she is a workaholic as well as somewhat boring. If you want a safe choice, I think you cannot go wrong with Miss Sara."

Though Gloriana agreed with Calabast's points, she happened to know Sara more personally.

"This match will never get off the ground." She judged. "Sara Voiken may be available, but she maintains her own pride as a Journeyman. She will insist on starting a proper relationship before she is ready to marry. This will take years that we do not have."

"The matchmaking program shouldn't be wrong. If it has been judged that Sara Voiken is highly compatible with Venerable Brutus, then I think you should give it a shot. She may be more open-minded towards your conditions than you think." Calabast insisted.

"Let's leave her name in reserve. Please provide me with another suggestion.

The spymaster glanced at the list for a few seconds before presenting a second name.

"If you are interested in matching your brother with a future stalwart of the Larkinson Clan, then Vivian Tsai is a compelling choice. The chief shipwright may be young for her current position, but she already occupies a key position in our upper hierarchy. She possesses a more assertive personality than Sara Voiken due to fulfilling her leadership duties."

Gloriana had only spoken to Vivian a handful of times since their work hardly intersected with each other. She had heard mild praise about Vivian from other corners of the clan, and never heard anything egregiously bad about the chief shipwright's competence or personality.

"Miss Vivian Tsai is an interesting prospect, but I know too little about her to make an immediate decision. I will put her on the shortlist as well. What else do you have, Calabast?"

"Isobel Kotin may not be an expert pilot like Brutus, but it is only a matter of time before she undergoes apotheosis. As a future expert pilot that possesses a highly similar specialty and piloting style to your brother, Miss Isobel can serve as a great training partner and battle companion. She possesses a milder and more introverted personality compared to the other candidates on the list, so it is unlikely that she will order Brutus around. What is also important to note is that Isobel's personality and attitude are still malleable since she is just an expert candidate at the moment."

Though Calabast's logic was sound, Gloriana still looked down on Isobel Kotin. The woman wasn't prominent in the Larkinson Clan at all and wouldn't have attracted any notice if not for being the latest pilot of the Quint.

"I will issue my judgment on her later. What else do you have?"

Calabast grinned. "If you want to aim for the top, then how about introducing your brother to Commander Casella Ingvar? Our clan's latest expert pilot is the most promising talent that has risen up from the ranks. With her personal strength as well as her rapidly-rising command capabilities, she is one of the favorites to take over General Verle's position as the highest military leader of our clan. Although she has zero relationship experience as far as I am aware of, the matchmaking program actually thinks that there is a good chance that a relationship between Casella and Brutus will work. The downside is that the two will have to click at first sight in order for their marriage to have any hope of getting realized."

Of all of the candidates on the list, the Sentinel Commander was by far the most ambitious choice!