"Why do you look so upset, Ves?"

"We're about to hire mercenaries."

There was no way that Ves could remain calm when he learned of this plan. While he understood the necessity of temporarily bolstering their protection, he still had a very bad impression of mercenaries in general.

This was actually a bit unfair towards the mercenary community. There were plenty of reliable mercenary corps in human space. Many of them possessed clean and stellar records.

Yet there was a reason why few people liked to hire mercenaries in general.

The cheaper and weaker ones were unreliable. They were more than willing to stand their ground when faced with a weaker opponent, but were prone to running and saving their own hides as long as they encountered a stronger foe!

The stronger ones charged a different price for their services. Their reputation was much more important to them so they always abided by their contracts.

As long as a battle fell within the scope of the terms set in the contract, the mercenaries could be trusted to fight on behalf of a client.

However, it was impossible for professional mercenaries to leave themselves open to exploitation.

What if the client was attacked by an enemy that was ten times stronger than anticipated?

It would be unfair for the contracted mercenaries to fight to the death just because the client misjudged the strength of its enemy!

To prevent these incidents from ruining otherwise reliable mercenary organizations, they always specified a maximum limit on the strength of the enemies they were supposed to fight.

This was actually the biggest variable which determined how much it cost to employ any professional mercenary corps.

If Ves happened to be short of money, he could lower this strength limit. While this was enough to protect his forces from ordinary rabble, the mercs had the right to step aside without a fight if a serious enemy emerged.

In this situation, he only had himself to blame for skimping on the contract.

The only way to hire mercenaries that were willing to fight against strong opponents was to pay a lot of money.

"I don't see the problem in this arrangement." Gloriana frowned. "The Wodin Dynasty has prior experience with hiring mercenaries. They're quite well-behaved as long as they get their money. How much revenue is the LMC pulling in these days? It's definitely over a trillion hex credits. I don't see why you should feel conflicted about paying somewhere between 5 to 15 billion hex credits to enjoy the protection of a powerful mercenary corps."

She was right, but Ves still felt pained at the thought of forking over so much money.

"These mercenaries will be making a killing by doing nothing but sitting around most of the time. Their business model is more about deterrence than actual fighting. As long as they show up and brandish their mechs, they'll scare away any opportunistic robbers. While that is doubtlessly useful, we are literally paying them the equivalent of several combat carriers a month!"

Gloriana picked up Clixie and began to scratch her furry cat's chin. "You're looking at it the wrong way. The cost of hiring powerful mercenaries is expensive, but losing our entire fleet and getting everyone killed is an even greater cost! In this situation, it's best to choose the lesser of two evils. If we get defeated by an enemy because you were too reluctant to pay a bigger share of our vast earnings, you'll feel as much regret as you did earlier when you realized what a mistake it was to procure cheaper mechs for your mech forces."

His face grew ugly. She had a point. The Larkinson Clan could have retained more mech pilots if they piloted premium mechs rather than budget mechs. It didn't matter too much if the more powerful machines were also more difficult to pilot. Their improved defenses alone would be enough to save a lot of precious lives.

"Hmm.. maybe you're right." Ves reluctantly conceded. "We'll have to set back a couple of plans if we spend this much, but this is a trivial cost compared to losing everything."

No wonder mercenaries could still stay in business even when they charged such exorbitant prices. There was always a need for protection in this dangerous galaxy. Some needed more protection than others, and the expeditionary fleet just happened to fall into this category.

As Ves sat down at a couch next to his wife, he leaned into her in order to plant a modest kiss on her cheek. He also took in her fresh floral scent.

"Hihihi!" Gloriana turned her attention away from Clixie and kissed his cheek in return. "I'm so glad we survived in the end. I don't even mind it if we lost as long as we managed to make it out intact. We can always rebuild what we lost, you know. We're the most promising pair of Journeymen in this star cluster. That makes us desirable no matter where we travel."

That may be true, but how easy was it to get over the loss of so much family?

The Larkinson Clan had become more than just a vehicle for his ambitions as far as Ves was concerned.

Perhaps he might not care for the deaths of thousands of regular Larkinsons, but he would still feel pained if Melkor, Ketis, Raella and Joshua died in battle. 

He shook his head and changed the topic.

"How are the Glory Seekers? They lost a lot of mech pilots without even reaching the Red Ocean. That must be a considerable setback."

Gloriana tapped his cheek with her finger. "They're not as depressed as you think they are. None of them are really angry, Ves. They fought against the Friday Coalition and managed to eliminate a considerably powerful force of deep strike fleet carriers, elite mech units and expert mechs. The casualties they suffered are quite reasonable in relation to our opposition. Not only did they manage to fight against a true enemy of the Hegemony, they also did so under the blessing of the Superior Mother. To witness her making a move in battle is the most glorious moment of their lives!"

"That.. is.. nice to hear…"

"I'm not worried at all as long as your mother is there to protect us all!" She pressed up against him in a loving manner. "Your mother is so strong. I feel absolutely reassured. Every Glory Seekers also feels the same now. We can defeat any opponent with a Supreme by our side!"

"My mother isn't as strong as you think! She can't fight all of our battles for us. We can't keep relying on trump cards like battle networks to bail us out. We need to develop our base strength as quickly as possible!"

Gloriana was banking way too much on the Superior Mother! That was a dangerous habit that Ves did not wish to see in anyone. While it might not be a big deal if his wife was the only one who thought this way, the problem would be a lot bigger if the Glory Seekers adopted the same attitude!

"Ugh." Ves placed his head into his palms.

"Miaow?"

Clixie moved over to his lap in order to cheer him up. Her tail wagged in a cute manner as she looked up at him. Ves couldn't resist and stroked her head and tufted ears.

"Miaow miaow~"

"When are we departing?" Gloriana asked. "Do you know that already?"

"Not really. Our schedule is completely shot to hell. We'll probably linger on this battlefield for at least a week in order to pick up a sufficient amount of valuable salvage. We also need this time to perform large-scale repair operations on our starships and our mech assets. It's a lot easier to do this in realspace than in FTL because we can easily transfer parts, materials and personnel to each other."

The Spirit of Bentheim already began to act as a foundry for replacement parts for the entire expeditionary fleet. It was times like these where Ves appreciated his factory ship the most. It felt so great to be able to rely on their own capabilities to restore their hardware and produce new ones.

"Our clan has gained two expert candidates."

"I know. To be honest, I pretty much knew that Taon Melin would reach this point sooner or later. He's the golden boy of the Living Prophet. As for.. the other guy.. I'm not inclined to pay attention to him. We've got too many expert candidates. I was actually hoping that a couple of them would die in this battle."

Ves wouldn't have to develop as many expert mechs in the medium term if that was the case. He hadn't even started with designing expert mechs for his first batch of expert pilots yet! He would probably be forced to work himself to death if more expert candidates emerged!

"Did any of them die?"

"Unfortunately, no. They're just too damn good at preserving their lives."

While many of their colleagues were dying left and right, the expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan were able to rely on their greater skill and instincts to stay alive.

Every expert candidate ranging from Commander Casella Ingvar to Percival Larkinson performed admirably in the Battle of Reckoning. Ves truly couldn't find fault in any of them. None of them managed to achieve apotheosis either.

Each of the Larkinson Clan's existing expert candidates had advanced too soon. They still needed to accumulate for many months before they reached the bottleneck that barred their way to becoming an expert pilot. Only then would the impetus of battle be able to elevate them further.

There were a lot of other internal issues that Ves needed to address, but that could all wait. This was the first break he enjoyed since the end of the battle.

"How will we go forward?" Gloriana asked in a gentle tone. "Have any of your intentions changed due to what we had just been through?"

Ves rubbed his not-so-smooth chin. It had been too long since he shaved his cheeks.

"We're going to need to expand the Golden Skull Alliance as soon as possible. There is strength in numbers. I originally intended to take my time, but I think we need to hurry up in roping in more partners. I hope we can find at least one new partner in Majestic Teal."

Gloriana became a lot more intrigued. "Will you be looking for a partner in the Life Research Association? There are a lot of good biotech researchers in this state. As long as we attract a good organization, then we'll have access to a lot of advanced biotech-related services."

"I'm not so sure that will work, honey. The lifers are very attached to their biomechs. While I don't have anything against these biological machines, they rely on an entirely different infrastructure than mechanical mechs. It's not efficient to mix them both in the same force."

"Are you sure about that? Biomechs have their own advantages, Ves. I think it is worthwhile to field at least some of them in case we're faced in a situation where regular mechs fail."

"Pfff. As if that will ever happen. Ordinary mechs are dominant in human space for a reason. They can handle any situation as long as their design allows it." Ves declared. "Personally, I don't specifically object to them, but I don't think there are sufficient benefits to adding them to our fleet. What about you? I never took you for someone who has taken a liking for these odd mechs."

Gloriana smiled. "Some of them are quite gruesome, but the better ones are quite charming in their own way. They're.. natural and fluid in a way that no mechanical mech can compare. I think orthodox mech designers like us can learn a lot of useful lessons from studying biomechs. They're grown rather than assembled. There are many implications to their design methodology because of that. The only flaw that I can't stomach is the high variance between copies."

Every biomech was unique. Even mass-produced copies from the same batch were distinguishable from each other with the naked eye!

Ves found that to be the most interesting part about biomechs. If it wasn't so difficult to get started on designing these organic machines, he would have tried it out by now!