The distribution of spoils was always a contentious issue.

After every battle, the side that controlled the battlefield received the opportunity to pick up a lot of valuable loot.

What was interesting was that the party that asserted control of a wreckage-filled battlefield was not always the winner.

For example, in the case of deep raids, the attackers could only stay in a hostile star system for a limited amount of time before they needed to leave. If they lingered too long in order to pick up all of the valuable scrap, enemy reinforcements might drop in and corner the greedy raiders!

Third parties might also be the final beneficiaries of a battle. If two pirate outfits smashed each other apart, the authorities might arrive at the end and defeat the exhausted victors with ease!

All in all, the issue of controlling the battlefield and dividing the spoils was of great importance to any combatant. Entire wars were won or lost due to arguments and mishaps surrounding the recognition of claims on salvage and other matters with profound financial implications.

This was especially the case when multiple organisations had to decide how to distribute the salvage!

Much of the wealth lying on the ground or drifting off in space came in the form of broken wrecks and debris. It took a lot of effort to convert them into valuable assets, either in the form of restored machines or recycled materials.

Most outfits generally didn't possess the industrial capabilities to process complex salvage, so they were accustomed to selling it to a dedicated salvage processing company at a discount. This became a lot more relevant as the amount of salvage far surpassed what any organization could reasonably process.

Suffice to say, this was exactly the case after the Battle of Reckoning. Not even the Larkinson Clan could process thousands of mech wrecks. The Spirit of Bentheim excelled at transforming refined materials into mechs and other industrial equipment. She did not possess extensive or efficient recycling and reprocessing capabilities.

Even so, no one wished to discard any of the salvage. No matter how difficult it was to extract value out of any broken piece, it could still be sold for a lucrative amount of money. Nothing on the battlefield was truly worthless.

The negotiations between the partners of the Golden Skull Alliance had already commenced as soon as the outcome of the battle was decided. The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers sent out various salvage shuttles and other vehicles to survey the debris fields and pick up the most valuable salvage before it could drift off any further.

The most valuable and controversial salvage of all was definitely the broken expert mechs!

Of course, every wreck that belonged to one of the members of the alliance automatically returned to them. The Glory Seekers retrieved the remains of the Star Dancer and the Cross Clan quickly gathered the pieces of the Bolvos Rage, the Conavis Mer and the Leskin without contention.

That left the expert mechs that belonged to the enemy. There were 11 expert mech wrecks in total. How to determine who deserved to obtain one was a difficult matter!

The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers mostly fought alongside each other. Even if one side managed to occupy a given enemy expert pilot, the reason why they were left undisturbed was because other friendlies blocked other opponents from intervening.

To be honest, Ves didn't want to bother with all of the horse-trading. He threw the problem to Major Verle who in turn tapped other Larkinsons to do all of the talking.

After more than an entire day, the negotiations concluded. Just like any compromise, the final agreement satisfied no one. The way these talks worked was to make sure that none of the participants felt overly left out. The final outcome at least had to approach their psychological expectations.

"One of the reasons why the talks stretched out for so long is because it's difficult to determine a 'fair' distribution." Major Verle personally met with Ves at his office. "Those that made more accomplishments should obtain more spoils. No one disagrees with that principle. It's just that everyone has different ideas on how to score a contribution. Another point of contention is the compensation of losses."

"What's that about?" Ves questioned as he stroked Bygul's back.

[Mew~]

Calabast took Lucky on a trip to the Auralis, so Ves had little choice but to cuddle with a substitute.

Though Bygul was obviously less lively than his first cat, the AI-driven projection had become a lot more realistic in acting like a real pet.

The ASTERA's deep learning function constantly studied the cats on the Spirit of Bentheim and precisely tracked Ves' reactions to any given behavior.

The results became better and better. While Bygul initially came across as stiff and artificial, now he had become a lot less distinguishable from actual cats!

"All of us have suffered losses, but some have lost more than others." Major Verle pointed out. "Each of us have lost thousands of mechs and at least half as many mech pilots. To us, these losses aren't too heavy, because we can easily recruit other mech pilots given our open recruitment policies."

"What are our current losses?" Ves asked.

"The numbers are still in flux. We have a lot of injured who might not make it at the end of the day. However, the overall picture has become somewhat clear. Get ready, because the current tally isn't pretty."

"Just give it to me, major. I'm not a newbie when it comes to hearing these reports."

"Very well, sir." Major Verle took a deep breath. "Out of the 4300 mech pilots of the Larkinson Clan, around 1800 of them are no longer with us. This time, the Avatars of Myth, the Battle Criers and the Flagrant Vandals have lost a disproportionate amount of soldiers."

The three mech forces were responsible for fighting against the elite mech units of the Friday Coalition. Compared to the Praetor and Planat mechs, the Fridaymen mechs were not only stronger, but also fought a lot harder.

The detachments of famed elite mech regiments such as the Holvein Grenadiers and the Silent Swords were so overwhelmingly powerful that the flimsy commercial mechs fielded by the Larkinson Clan collapsed quickly without support!

Ves briefly closed his eyes. His decision to cheap out on mechs had led to the loss of almost half of the Larkinson Clan's main combatants. This was a grievous loss and would surely generate a lot of hard feelings among the other Larkinsons.

Of course, the Larkinson Clan was actually a lot weaker than these numbers suggested. The casualty figures specifically mentioned mech pilots. When it came to intact, combat effective mechs, Ves loosely guessed that the Larkinson Clan only retained around 20 percent of what it had before!

This left the Larkinson Clan remarkably vulnerable against any opportunistic enemies that might show up in the near future.

"What about our allies?"

"They haven't shared the full picture with us, but they still supplied us with a couple of estimates. The Glory Seekers lost around 1200 out of 2600 mech pilots. The Cross Clan lost around 1500 out of 3200 mech pilots. In both cases, the majority of deaths occurred during the attempt to contain the 8 destructive Fridayman expert mechs."

Ves had tracked that desperate fight with great attention. The Golden Skull Alliance simply didn't have enough expert mechs, so it had no choice but to field an overwhelming amount of cannon fodder in the hopes of drowning the vastly-superior opponents!

"Damn. Our allies have lost a lot of mech pilots, all of whom are trained to military standards. That represents a great drop in strength. How will they address this problem?" Ves inquired as he stroked his hand on Bygul's physically projected body.

He relished getting back to wearing more comfortable clothes.

Now that the entire area around the expeditionary fleet had been swept for threats, there was no need to wear any protective equipment any longer. The alert level had already been lowered to yellow, which meant that there was no need for the entire crew to be fully geared and permanently stuck at their battle stations.

"Let's start with the Glory Seekers, sir. The Hexers are in a bit of a bind because the Wodin Dynasty cannot reinforce them any further. Now that the Hexadric Hegemony is facing an increasing amount of pressure from the Friday Coalition, the Hexers truly need every single mech pilot. It is political suicide for the Wodins to transfer mech pilots away from the front."

That was understandable.

"How will the Hexers get back to full strength?"

"I'm not sure. You should know them better than I do, sir." Verle replied. "In my judgement, they will probably hire female mech pilots who are compatible with their ideology. It's the only viable way for them to get back to a level of strength that allows them to defend the Indigo Tremor and other valuable assets."

This was a desperate measure, but one that could not be avoided. The Indigo Tremor was a newly-built fleet carrier that incorporated state-of-the-art Hexer military technology. Yet no matter how many features she possessed, she would only become an attraction to thieves if there weren't mechs on guard to serve as a deterrent!

Ves looked nonchalant. "I'm not sure whether the Hexers can attract any decent mech pilot considering their.. eccentric culture, but maybe they'll surprise us all. What about the Cross Clan?"

"We haven't heard anything from the Cross Clan about this matter so far. It will likely take some time for them to come to a decision."

"Do you think the Crossers will open their doors as well?"

"They have no choice, sir." Verle firmly answered. "If they want to succeed in the Red Ocean, they can't arrive at the dwarf galaxy at half strength. They can't afford to wait decades for their descendents to grow up, so the only viable solution is to recruit outsiders. It will be difficult."

That was an understatement, but it wasn't any of their business.

Now that Ves gained a decent overview of the losses suffered by everyone in the alliance, he became a bit worried how they would proceed in the coming months.

Right now, the Golden Skull Alliance was at its most precarious moment. It would take at least several months for the injured mech pilots to heal and to restore, build or acquire enough mechs to make them useful again.

It might take a lot longer to replace the huge amount of mech pilots that had fallen in the Battle of Reckoning!

That made the next steps of their journey a lot more dangerous.

However, there was plenty of time to formulate a couple of plans. Ves was much more interested in the more immediate topic of distributing all of the juicy loot!

"Let's get back to dividing the spoils, major. Just give me the short version. Who gets what?"

"I'll start with our clan. We may have fielded the most mechs, but most of them are considerably weak. The only good performers we had were our prime mechs, our Valkyrie Redeemers and our Transcendent Punishers. While it's true we've pulled off some very astonishing moves, we didn't contribute nearly as much in the more punishing clashes."

"So we'll be getting less of the share of the spoils?"

"It's.. complicated. We obviously can't demand too much, but the fact that we have overturned the battle by wiping out the Bloody Herons and the entire crew of the Auralis at once cannot be ignored. In the end, our negotiators managed to hash out the differences by making some major concessions in exchange for obtaining some priority spoils."

Major Verle began to list out the full loot.

In total, the Larkinson Clan received 20 percent of standard mech salvage. While this was a low proportion, the Larkinsons secured priority on all of the wrecks of the Bloody Herons and the Corundian Giants.

The Larkinson Clan gave up any claims on the salvage originating from the starships of the enemy strike force.

The only exception was the Auralis. The Glory Seekers and the Crossers easily conceded the whole fleet carrier to the Larkinsons for obvious reasons.

As for the most valuable loot, the Larkinsons gained just 2 expert mech wrecks in total. Ves became very disappointed when he heard he could only get his hands on the Charlemagne and the Jeanne D'Arc.

"It's not that bad." Major Verle tried to console his upset patriarch. "We got all of the Scarra mech wrecks as a package deal as well."

That was hardly a consolation.