After several days of taking control of Xiphard Base, Task Force Predator looted it of all of the valuables it was willing to carry. With nothing left for the Larkinsons to take, they readied their fleet to depart.

Most of the Crona Lords the Larkinsons had captured were put on trial, for whatever good it did. In order to save on time, a clansman proposed the bright idea of programming an AI that automatically judged every pirate based on the evidence gathered from interrogations and the data banks.

It only took 0.00034 seconds to pass judgement on every single pirate or slave.

Predictably, the judge AI sentenced most of the pirates to death. The slaves received mixed treatment. The most innocent ones regained their freedom while the slaves who had become corrupted were supposed to receive various prison sentences.

As it was, the Larkinsons simply decided to keep them in their cells and let the recently-freed slaves decide how to handle the mess. What happened next in Xiphard Base was none of the clan's business.

Before the task force resumed its journey, the Larkinsons made sure to dismantle and destroy any illegal weapon. They stripped the enhanced nuclear payloads from the Alpha Mines, used the Beta Ships as target practice and salvaged the most valuable materials from the Omega Laser before completely destroying it beyond recognition.

"Those freed slaves won't end up better." Calabast told Ves as they looked at the large asteroid base becoming smaller as the Scarlet Rose slowly flew away. "There are hardly any intact mechs left at the base. Even if the slaves manage to repair a couple of dozen of them, they don't have the mech pilots to make use of them. The base will be overrun by some other pirate group in a month."

"We left more stuff behind than just the base. There's also the few intact ships we managed to capture from the surrendered Crona Lords."

"If the former slaves are smart enough, they will take those ships and flee towards the periphery of the Nyxian Gap. Even if their ships don't have any FTL drives, they can at least hope for rescue from a benevolent Peacekeeper outfit. What's more likely though is that their lone and defenseless ships will get raided by some other pirates, thereby landing them straight back into slavery."

Ves shrugged. "We aren't going to haul tens of thousands of slaves along our journey. They take up too much space and life support capacity. Keeping them with us is a distraction at best and dangerous at worst."

"I'm not arguing against the choices our task force has made. It's just that you shouldn't kid yourself that you are doing those freed people a favor."

"I know that." Ves frowned. "The best we can do is to give them a chance. Our own priorities come first. That is something I won't compromise on. The days where Larkinsons are expected to sacrifice themselves to the benefit of others is over. What I mainly want is for our fellow clansmen to think our clan is acting in an honorable manner. The ugly truth that you have described doesn't matter. The perception that we are doing the right thing is what I truly want."

She looked a bit confused at him. "That sounds strange. You know you're rather contradictory, you know that? Much of the decisions you have made as clan patriarch are focused on shaping a culture of honor and integrity. While I do not have any objections towards this development trajectory, I find it strange that you hold little of the values you try to instill on others."

It was like a man leading a woman's association or a norm leading a mech outfit. It seemed wrong that the leader of an organization held the opposite ideals. Yet Ves seemed determined to make it work!

"Just because I'm.. different.. from the other Larkinsons doesn't mean that I want them to become like me." Ves calmly replied. "If every Larkinson becomes a scumbag, who can I trust to support me and my clan? Trust is important. Even if I'm lacking in it, I hope I can make up my shortfall by borrowing it from my fellow Larkinsons."

The true reason why he wanted to foster a proper and upright clan that centered around kinship and honor was to minimize the chance of betrayal.

One of his worst nightmares was that his clan would become similar to him! If everyone became selfish bastards who wouldn't hesitate to break the rules the moment they became an obstacle, the Larkinson Clan would quickly tear itself apart from the inside! That did not benefit Ves the slightest!

Since his influence over the development of the clan was very great, Ves wanted to make sure that it stayed on the right path!

This was why he needed to make careful and deliberate decisions on behalf of the clan. Rather than slaughtering every human in a pirate base right away, Ves encouraged the clan to judge them all property even though they did not have to do that. The objective of this decision was to establish a pattern where the clan always attempted to act honorably.

What Ves didn't tell Calabast was that he had another reason to foster such a culture!

The experiments he conducted earlier provided him with a wealth of new insights. He gained a comprehensive new understanding of the nature and mechanics of spiritual phenomena, and this was just the start!

One of the conclusions he tentatively made was that it was easier to enhance someone's existing traits than to suppress or supplant them with something else.

With his current spiritual strength and repertoire of techniques, it was too impractical for Ves to do anything else aside from amplifying someone's existing inclinations.

This meant that he could turn a killer into a mass murderer, a mech enthusiast into a passionate mech fanatic and a noble soldier into a paragon of duty.

If Ves ever wanted to apply this method to his own Larkinsons, he needed to make sure they possessed something desirable for Ves to amplify. It would be much better if the clansmen in question already possessed a strong positive trait!

After chatting a bit more with Calabast, he left her side and moved to the isolated chamber which held the Darkbreak module.

He turned it online and called someone who he never dared to approach before.

The physical projection of Master Willix appeared into view. The eminent mech designer apparently expected this call and looked ready to discuss serious matters.

"Mr. Larkinson. It is good to see you today."

"Good afternoon, Master Willix. Have you evaluated all of the documents and proof I sent about the numerous violations of the Crona Lords and the Allidus Alliance?"

If Ves didn't want to come across as rude, he would have asked the Master how many merits the MTA was willing to award him for punishing the wicked pirates!

The Alpha Mines and the Omega Laser of the Crona Lords along with the weapon batteries and the Judgement Lasers of the Allidus Alliance all represented gross violations of the rules set by the Big Two!

Ves expected to earn much more merits this time!

The Master looked grave. "The alarming implications of the discoveries that you have made are too great to be decided by myself. I convened with my fellow colleagues at Centerpoint and discussed your proof as well as the other scattered information that we have gathered from the Nyxian Gap. It's clear that the Nyxian pirates are not content to maintain the old status quo."

Why didn't she tell him how many merits he earned? Didn't she realize he had been waiting for days to hear the good news?!

"Uhm, we were very surprised at how many taboo superweapons we encountered. According to the intelligence that we have gathered, it's not unusual for pirates to prepare some trump cards. However, they shouldn't possess so many superweapons."

Master Willix nodded in agreement. "According to our own analysis, this is a fairly recent development. The rise of certain pirate organizations such as the Allidus Alliance that have begun to sell destructive warship-grade weapon batteries and weapon emplacements are at fault here. Allidus make too much light of the CFA and MTA because we have been remiss in enforcing our will upon them. The safety afforded by the anomalous environment they inhabit has given the rats the courage of a lion."

"While the rats are still fairly small, their fangs have grown sharper. It's not easy to defeat these pirate groups that make use of weapons of mass destruction. Our task force has lost over fifty mech pilots and at least double the amount of mechs in our latest battle."

The Master's projection threw a look at him as if she knew what he was doing.

She was not in a hurry to provide him with the answer he wanted to hear, though!

"We have always monitored the Nyxian Gap and tried to keep on top of what is taking place there. Despite our efforts, it is still difficult to ascertain how many taboo weapons the pirates have obtained. Serious confrontations are rather rare and pirates often cease their conflicts before one side is willing to go all out. We are quite grateful that an outside factor such as you who doesn't play by their rules has exposed some of the actual state of this region."

Did that mean that Ves was entitled to a bonus?

"From what we have gathered from our own investigations, the Crona Lords and several other pirate groups they are friends with have only recently begun to augment their arsenal of superweapons."

"Part if that is due to the recent escalation in the conflict between the Nyxian pirates and the Sentinel Kingdom." Willix stated. "The recent Friedmont Massacre where a large number of nuclear-armed doom crawlers has nuked an entire planet has only enflamed the situation. The incident dealt a severe blow in the confidence and prestige in us. Along with other factors, this has led to a greater willingness to ignore the rules we have enforced for centuries."

Ves awkwardly scratched the side of his head. "Yes. The Friedmont Massacre. What a tragedy. Billions of Sentinel citizens dead. The pirates sure are unrepentant scum for slaughtering so many innocents."

"After a discussion with our CFA colleagues, we have decided to alter the rewards related to this set of rule violations. We will publish an official notification on all of our platforms later this week, but it will in effect state that the merits we award for the discovery, seizure and destruction of taboo weapons is directly doubled."

"What?! Double?!" Ves lit up. This was better news than he hoped! "Does that apply to my current submission as well?!"

"Yes. After analyzing and verifying the proof that you have submitted, we have determined that the service that you have provided in dealing with the various violations committed by the Crona Lords and the Allidus Alliance is significant. Your base reward is 643,423 MTA merits, but since your reward is doubled, your account will be credited with 1,286,846 MTA merits before the end of this day."

Ves was floored! He knew the MTA would likely award him generously, but he never expected to earn more than a million MTA merits at once!

Greed began to fill his eyes. Forget about tracking down Solok Reyva. Forget about fulfilling various other difficult missions for the MTA. Why should he go on a wild goose chase when he could just smash apart pirate bases instead?

With the strength of Task Force Predator, Ves was confident he could topple several more pirate fortifications similar to Xiphard Base!

He bowed towards the projection. "Thank you for rewarding us with this generous amount of merits. We are glad to be of service to the honorable Mech Trade Association."

If he could earn 1 million MTA merits after defeating any established pirate group in Maynard Fields, he was confident he could accumulate at least 5 million merits during this excursion! He might even be able to earn 10 million merits if he pushed his Larkinson Clan further!

There was no way Ves was going to waste this opportunity!

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