The induction of the Flagrant Vandals into the Larkinson Clan went smoothly. Ves made sure to reserve some time to hold a proper induction ceremony.

Most people thought that Ves went out of his way to honor the Vandals with a personal appearance because they were former war buddies.

That was partially true.

The benefits that Major Verle provided to Ves was the biggest reason why they received special treatment!

Ordinary candidates didn't get to place their palms on the Larkinson Mandate. They didn't receive an opportunity to swear an oath to the Larkinson Clan in front of the clan patriarch.

With how busy he was these days, the recruiters assigned by the Larkinson Clan mostly conducted the ceremonies themselves. The Bright Warrior mechs served as an adequate substitute for the Larkinson Mandate.

The fact that Ves went out of his way to eschew this perfunctory treatment and treat the Flagrant Vandals with a greater ceremony was a message in itself. He cared about the Vandals and valued them a lot higher than ordinary recruits!

No one in the clan rejected their entry. While it was true that the Flagrant Vandals deserted the Bright Republic, they fought valiantly in the previous Bright-Vesia War and the Sand War.

The fact that they held their ground in the Battle of Bentheim and lost the bulk of their comrades was enough to redeem the stain of their desertion!

From a more practical perspective, the addition of a remnant of a proper military mech regiment was very useful to the clan.

The Princely Jackal, the Shield of Hispania and the Gorgon's Gaze were all combat carriers that have proven to be resilient enough to survive several intensive battles. Though they were all banged up to an extent, their scars could easily be fixed.

While the Vandal combat carriers weren't as impressive as the ships in the possession of the Penitent Sisters, at the very least Ves had more direct control over them! He never fully trusted the Hexer punishment outfit, and the various restrictions they came with made it very difficult to make full use of their strength.

Certainly, Ves planned to replace every third-class vessel in his fleet with second-class ships in the future, but that might take years to complete. Until then, having a handful of military combat carriers at his disposal was better than nothing!

Before the arrival of the Flagrant Vandals, Ves always had a headache about the possible force composition of any excursion into the Nyxian Gap. If he wanted to complete a mission into this perilous space, then bringing a bunch of light carriers was sheer folly!

The ubiquitous asteroid that floated everywhere in this anomalous space made it trivially easy for the pirate gangs that infested the Gap to ambush any travelling fleets. Just a couple of surprise attacks was enough to cripple a lightly-armored light carrier!

Even with the protection of the Penitent Sisters, they only needed to expose a single hole in their defenses to cripple the weakest vessels in the fleet!

Ves wouldn't have to worry so much if he could limit his selection to armored vessels. While that might mean that he would have to leave the bulk of his Avatars and Sentinels behind, at the very least he wouldn't need to worry too much about incurring an excessive amount of losses.

Aside from the assets they brought, the military heritage they retained and the immediate battle power in the form of trained, disciplined mech pilots who spent years honing their coordination was of great value!

The clan became a bit more confident in its ability to repel attacks.

Even if the Larkinsons looked down on the modest number of Vandals, there was one more reason why they didn't look down on the new additions.

"Another expert candidate has joined our clan!"

"Who is Captain Orfan?"

"I heard some mixed stories about her when I was still serving in the Mech Corps. I don't think they matter anymore now that she has become an expert candidate. We can never have too many of them! I'm looking forward to the day our clan gains our first expert pilot!"

With the Golden Cat bestowing her personal approval to Major Verle, Captain Orfan and the rest, Ves became fully reassured that the Vandals weren't pulling the wool over his eyes.

Goldie would have said something to him if Verle had tried to scam him with a non-existent serum!

Once the Vandals became a part of the clan, he let Calabast and the other leaders of the clan take charge of the follow-up arrangements.

Right now, it seemed that Major Quinlist Verle-Larkinson would likely retain his rank and occupy a senior military position in the hierarchy.

Captain Rosa Orfan-Larkinson on the other hand would take charge of the diminished number of Vandals. They had grown small enough that it wasn't necessary for someone as competent as Major Verle-Larkinson to lead them in person.

"All of these compound names sound rather ugly." Ves complained.

"It gets better over time." Gavin told him during a briefing. "In case we can never get used to them, we can just adopt a different solution. There are plenty of proponents to the idea of turning everyone's last name into Larkinson."

That was not so ideal either. Everyone would probably have to resort to serial numbers to refer to the correct Larkinson!

Just as Ves thought he was done with current affairs, yet another incident demanded his attention.

Brutus Wodin made a personal visit to Ves. When an expert pilot went out of his way to knock on his doors, then something truly important must be happening!

To his surprise, Brutus didn't come alone.

His companion wasn't who he expected, either. Instead of bringing his sister or Ranya, he instead came with a completely different woman.

"Davia Stark." Ves greeted. "I hope the clan has accommodated you well. I apologise for my lack of visits to you. I was too busy to spare time on you. I hope you understand."

With everything that was going on, trying to help a broken expert pilot sat rather low on his list of priorities! He was especially disinclined to waste his time on her when she was barely functional as a human!

So far, Ves had been content to leave her in the hands of Clinton Larkinson and the various doctors and specialists of the clan.

"It is no issue." Davia softly responded.

Ves looked taken aback at her response! Though the sense of gloom and malaise was very evident on her, the fact that she actually spoke like a normal human being was a substantial leap in progress!

Ves studied Davia a bit more thoroughly. He concentrated his mind and tried to observe her through his spiritual vision.

What he observed utterly surprised him! The protective force of will that Brutus often liked to drape on his sister and close family now nestled protectively around Davia's fragile and broken will!

This strange interaction must have been responsible for Davia's transformation. Her force of will, though still broken, looked like it was starting to piece back together!

While Ves didn't know how difficult it was for her to regain her original strength as an expert pilot, at the very least the odds were significantly greater than before!

His entire stance on her changed. Her importance shot up in priority now that there was actual hope of her recovery.

"Congratulations on your improvement. You look a lot better than before."

Davia didn't respond. Instead, she turned towards Brutus, who spoke on her behalf.

"Do you remember our previous request?"

"I remember." Ves responded. "You wanted to divert our fleet to the former capital of the Vindmar Republic. I rejected it because our entire fleet was desperate to reach safe harbor. I can't afford to frustrate the interests of tens of thousands of people just to accommodate a single wounded veteran of the Sand War."

Brutus smiled as if he didn't take offense. "We understand. Your choice is the most proper one. However, now that you have reached the Cinach System, you are doing quite well these days. Not only have you consolidated your clan, you have also expanded your forces and recruited a large number of skilled recruits. The recent addition of the Flagrant Vandals has increased your strength even further."

"What is it that you are getting at, Brutus?" Ves frowned.

"I plan to take Miss Stark to the border state which she hailed from on the Serendipity. At this time, the dust of the Sand War has sufficiently settled. While it is not entirely safe to travel to the destroyed state, I'm confident that I alone can fend off any opportunistic scavengers."

The tone that Brutus adopted made it clear that he wasn't asking for permission. He was stating his intentions as a courtesy. There was nothing Ve could do to retain Brutus in the fleet and enjoy his protection!

That was bad news to Ves. As much as he could depend on his own forces and the Penitent Sisters for protection, the presence of Brutus alone was a very powerful deterrent!

Expert pilots enjoyed a lot of respect, more than any other average mech pilot! A second-class expert pilot like Brutus was of immense value to Ves. He was like a lucky talisman that ensured that no one would have any funny ideas!

Ves could react in two different ways. He could try to talk Brutus out of this inconvenient excursion, or he could roll over and support the expert pilot's decision.

Short of persuading Gloriana to hold her brother back, there was nothing Ves could do to force Brutus to stay! Instead of coming across as selfish, Ves decided it was better to acquiesce.

In any case, Brutus wasn't wrong. He enjoyed plenty of protection even without a powerful expert pilot presiding over the fleet.

Ves smiled charitably at Brutus and Davia. "How long do you intend to take?"

"It depends. My Serendipity is quite a fast ship, so it can take as little as three weeks to make a round trip. The former Vindmar Republic isn't that far away from the Sentinel Kingdom. We might incur some delays. Perhaps Davia wishes to visit some other star systems along the way."

"I think.. I need to visit the site of my defeat as well." She whispered while keeping her eyes down. "I never.. properly said goodbye to my mercenary commander."

"A month." Brutus declared. "We won't take more than a month. Even if you have already departed the Sentinel Kingdom, my ship is fast enough to catch up. Don't worry. I am still committed to protecting my sister."

Considering that Ves had no intentions of leaving the Cinach System within a month, that sounded entirely reasonable. During their entire stay in this star system, Ves and the Larkinson Clan encountered no meaningful threat to their safety.

This deep in the Sentinel Kingdom, the Friday Coalition should never be able to assault this star system!

Of course, the Nyxian pirates were a different story, but Ves didn't worry about them too much. Their strength couldn't compare against a second-rate state. The most they could do was launch futile raids and terrorist attacks.

"Very well." Ves smiled. "I wish the two of you good luck on your endeavors. As a Larkinson, I respect every mech pilot who has answered the call of duty. You deserve another chance to fight on behalf of humanity."

"It is a pity… I was not able to fight against the sandmen one last time."

Regret suffused her tone and her crushed expression. If she recovered faster, she might have been able to take part in the Battle of Bentheim!

As it was, she was completely useless now. She wasn't even in a state to pilot a mech in a normal fashion, let alone exhibit the strength of an expert pilot!

Ves tried to console her. "The sandmen are hardly the only threat to humanity. There are more enemies out there who dream of nothing but slaughtering innocent people. Your fight is not over yet, Miss Stark."

She didn't respond as she and Brutus rose up from their seats.

As the pair of exceptional mech pilots departed, Ves frowned. Even if Davia recovered, he wasn't sure whether he would be able to retain her. There was hardly anything tying her to the Larkinson Clan. To be honest, Brutus did much more to help her recover than he ever did during the months she stayed in the fleet!