The Mech Touch

Ves finally ended his holiday. He gained a lot of perspective and also acquainted himself more with the planet that formed a key component in the short to medium-term plans of the Larkinson Clan.

No matter whether he intended to treat Davute VII as an extended pitstop or a permanent base, there was no way for him to get around the fact his clan needed to integrate into a local economy.

This was a necessity when he wanted to expand his clan. Relying on natural childbirth to grow the population was too slow. If he wanted to meet his ambitious growth target, his clan needed to recruit outsiders on a massive scale.

Ordinary organizations were quite conservative when it came to recruitment, but the Larkinson Clan was different. With the Larkinson Network binding both new and old clansmen together, Ves had little scruples about picking up strays with mixed backgrounds.

No matter whether they were spies, criminals or malcontents, the Golden Cat was a barrier that no troublemaker could overcome!

Ves was not worried about assimilating any newcomers, but he worried whether his clan's movements would be too big.

Even though millions if not billions of humans passed through the greater beyonder gate every day, the pool of available and highly qualified manpower was still limited.

A massive recruitment spree that targeted the middle and upper layers of the manpower pool would inevitably make a lot of other competitors frustrated.

After all, there were certain rare professions such as chief engineers and implantation surgeons that were in critical short supply!

It would take a long time for newly-founded schools, academies and universities to raise these professionals from the humans born or raised in the Red Ocean.

Until then, the only way for every organization to keep up their expansion was to recruit from the passengers that continually arrived.

"There is a faster way for us to expand and grow our numbers." Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse suggested.

"Oh? Let's hear it, Novilon."

Ves and his family had returned to the fleet in orbit by now. After enjoying a night of rest, he wore his usual patriarch uniform and entered the largest and elegant conference room on the Spirit of Bentheim.

Over a hundred other Larkinsons had gathered in the massive compartment. Top leaders such as the chief ministers, General Quinlist Verle, Director Calabast Arnlest, Director Ranya Wodin, Director Raella Larkinson, Commander Casella Ingvar, the other legion commanders and Chief Shipwright Vivian Tsai had all taken a seat at the large and dynamically-adjusted oval table.

Members of attached organizations such as Chairwoman Calsie Doornbos of the Open Consortium and Director Samandra Avikon of the Creation Association also received invitations to attend the meeting.

Furthermore, a number of Larkinson Assemblymen such as Ovrin Larkinson and Caratan Larkinson also gained an opportunity to provide their input.

Naturally, the lead designers of the Larkinson Clan couldn't remain absent either. They happened to be seated closest to the head of the oval table, reflecting their high status and importance in a clan that had always placed a lot of importance on mech design and production.

As Ves swept his gaze across the long table, he felt proud of how far his clan had come. In less than a decade, it had grown to a scale that was unimaginable to him when he just started off his career.

The Larkinson Clan possessed a strong fleet, a large and motivated population and plenty of talented and skilled professionals.

Now that it had solved its lack of capital, which used to be its biggest and most restrictive shortcoming, the rise of his clan was just around the corner!

Hence why so many important clansmen had gathered in the conference room today. This was the first of several grand planning sessions that Ves had scheduled.

Ves alone could not possibly decide how to invest all of the extra wealth gained from the Purgatory Campaign. He was primarily a mech designer and only possessed a limited perspective on what the clan needed. His recent talks with Gloriana, Gavin and Vivian only reinforced his own ignorance.

This was why he looked forward to hearing what creative plans his other clansmen had come up with. They already had several weeks of time to do their research and formulate their proposed budgets.

Now it was time for everyone to share and discuss all of the good ideas they cooked up. Right now, everyone directed their undivided attention to Chief Minister Novilon.

Almost every part of the Larkinson Clan was short on manpower. This problem would likely exacerbate when the clan rapidly expanded as a whole!

"There is a limit to the talents and professionals we can hire from the regional job markets." The son of Shederin Purnesse calmly explained. "Other pioneering organizations aren't fools. Their scouts and recruiters are everywhere. The most desirable recruits have already received dozens if not hundreds of offers from the moment they arrive at Vulit. Few of them are able to resist the generous compensation packages and the opportunity to join larger and much more established pioneering organizations than our clan. If any of this free manpower moves on to Davute, then they likely have serious marks on their records that make them problematic."

"If that's the case, shouldn't we be doing the same?" Commander Melkor Larkinson suggested. "I mean, if you can't beat them, join them. Vulit is the gateway to the Red Ocean for every second-rater. While our clan isn't as big or renowned as other pioneering organizations, we can make up for it by providing more incentive than others."

Novilon shook his head. "This is not a cost-effective solution. We must pay a substantial amount of MTA merits to keep even a single recruiter in a central star node."

"Can't we contract a local recruitment agency instead?"

"We can, but do you know how many clients they have? I am afraid that every agent is already juggling the needs of at least dozens of different pioneers. We must pay a fortune to the agent in order to get priority. Then we need to make sure we can attract highly qualified talents by luring them over with record salaries. This might not be an issue for us if we only recruit a limited number of people, but what if we are seeking to hire tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of professionals? Our payroll expenses will skyrocket, especially when we have to raise the compensation to our current personnel in order to prevent them from getting disaffected."

The Larkinson Clan may have gained a huge windfall, but that had yet to be converted into sustainable income. Ves did not want to weigh everything down by raising the salaries of all of his clansmen too soon!

"What is your proposed alternative solution, then?" He asked.

"Instead of hiring loose personnel, we can acquire them en masse by buying out existing companies and institutions."

A lot of people grew intrigued by this suggestion.

"It can work." Chief Minister Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson supported his colleague's idea. "The Red Ocean is a harsh frontier, as we all know. Aside from contending against attacks launched by remnant alien fleets or opportunistic rival pioneers, the new entrants must also cope with the difficulty of setting up a profitable business under extreme market conditions. Not all of them are as capable or fortunate as our clan. These distressed pioneering organizations are desperate for a lifeline. While our competition is also making efforts to buy them out, I believe that our clan can also convince them to join our ranks."

This was an interesting suggestion!

For months, Ves had long considered his clan to be among the pool of lower-tiered pioneering organizations that were largely regarded as prey for the larger players in the Red Ocean.

Now, this situation had changed. The Larkinsons were no longer vulnerable targets anymore.

Instead, they had joined the ranks of predators that possessed the means to take over weaker pioneers!

Seeing that many Larkinsons thought favorably of his suggestion, Chief Minister Novilon smiled as he expanded his argument.

"Our clan is no newcomer when it comes to acquisition. We absorbed many different existing groups such as the Battle Criers, the Ylvainans, the Swordmaidens, the Penitent Sisters, the Heavensworders, the Lifers and even my very own Purnesse Family. Each of them have successfully merged with the clan while contributing their unique strengths and culture to our common cause. Diversity is one of our greatest strengths and increasing it is a great way to improve our comprehensive strength and adaptability."

This was a strong argument and one that already won Ves over.

Naturally, someone like Ves was not blind to the fact that Chief Minister Novilon purposefully courted his approval by flattering him with well-crafted praise for the decisions that he had made. It was a cheap political trick that Ves was wise enough to detect.

Regardless of the manipulative elements, Novilon truly made a good point. The Larkinson Clan wasn't afraid of recruiting loners. It was even less afraid of absorbing entire groups.

If even the Swordmaidens and Penitent Sisters turned into obedient Larkinsons, there was no way that other eccentric cultures could break the mold!

There was only one tiny issue.

"Will it be expensive to buy out other pioneering organizations?" Ves carefully asked.

"It will not be cheap." Novilon admitted. "This is why we should reserve this treatment for organizations that possess large amounts of personnel and expertise that we sorely need. For example, the plan to convert the Diligent Ovenbird into a capital-grade mobile shipyard will require us to hire a large quantity of engineers and shipbuilding technicians. Instead of hiring these vital people in piecemeal, it is much more convenient to buy an entire shipbuilding company at once."

"We've already developed a relationship with one decent shipbuilding company." Gloriana spoke up. "Is it possible for our clan to absorb Murphy & Sons?"

Ves shook his head. "That won't happen. Murphy & Sons is not in a distressed state. The shipbuilding company's business is booming now that it has fixed its drydock. The Murphy Family is also ambitious and is not willing to lose its independence."

"That is regrettable."

"There are more shipbuilding companies that have fallen afoul of the dangers of the Red Ocean. It should not be difficult for us to acquire small to medium-sized shipbuilding companies, especially when it doesn't matter too much whether they bring their own shipbuilding facilities. We are only aiming to absorb their skilled and experienced personnel." Novilon said.

It did not take long for the Larkinson leaders approved of this initiative. They agreed on a tentative budget so that Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse and Foreign Minister Shederin Purnesse could pursue this initiative.

"Try and achieve a quick result. The sooner our clan can expand, the better." Ves demanded.

"Will do, sir."

"Alright, then. Let's move on to other ideas. Who is next?"

Chief Minister Magdalena Larkinson stood up. Different from the other two chief ministers, the former commander of the Living Sentinels mostly worked on military affairs.

It was no surprise that her proposal was related to the Larkinson Clan's military arm.

"I propose to expand the number of mech legions under the Larkinson Army."

General Verle and many military officers did not show any strong reactions, but the rest exhibited varying degrees of surprise.

"Don't we have enough, already? The mech legions that we currently have already cover all of our needs."

"You are not wrong, but once our clan grows larger, the faults we have in our military preparedness will become magnified. Instead of plugging these gaps when it is too late, we should take the initiative and proactively address these latent shortcomings so that they will not lead to a disastrous defeat when we finally go on another expedition."

Ves looked concerned. Though he was also of the opinion that the Larkinson Army already possessed a sufficient number and variety of mech legions, it might be worthwhile consider whether the clan needed more to meet its future needs.