Ves and Gloriana traveled to a large base situated in another area at the edge of Veoline proper.

Just like back in the Cinach System, the Larkinsons decided to rent a large base on the surface of Prosperous Hill VI in order to facilitate their operations in the star system.

From recruitment to procuring supplies, a lot of work had to be done over the next couple of months in order to get the grand expedition back on track.

Not only that, but the base also provided ample opportunities for Larkinsons to go on leave. Hardly any clansman wanted to remain stuck on their ships that were parked in some dark quadrant in the outer system when there was a very pleasant planet next door!

The only difference from last time was that the Larkinson Clan's allies also decided to join the party.

For security and other reasons, the members of the alliance each agreed to share a single base.

Naturally, they did not mix everything together, but divided it up into three different sections.

Fortunately, the Veoline area offered a lot of land and real estate for rent. The Golden Skull Alliance was hardly the only organization in the star system that sought to establish a short-term presence on the surface of the trading planet.

The local rulers even established several districts that were specifically set up to accommodate these needs!

The Gentle Lotus Base was one of twenty different lots in one of those districts. It happened to be the largest plot of land that was available for rent at the moment. At least half of the other lots in the district were already rented by various other foreign fleets and organizations.

No locals lived in this area so if the foreigners ever came to blows, no one native to the planet was liable to get hurt.

As the armored shuttle and its escorts approached Gentle Lotus, Ves took a glance at the progress of the buildup.

Gentle Lotus only featured a single pre-built base structure at the start. This structure may have been sufficient to meet the needs of a modest trade fleet, but it was incapable of hosting tens of thousands of people!

For this reason, the Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers immediately shipped a bunch of prefab modular structure components and began to piece the giant building blocks together.

It didn't matter if the structures looked rather basic. They only had to last a short amount of time before the expeditionary fleet was ready to depart.

As Ves and the rest emerged out of their shuttle again, they all beheld the state of the construction effort.

Gloriana frowned. "It's taking longer than I thought to set up the prefab buildings."

"You can't blame our people. Both our personnel and our assets are at the mercy of the PHTS. Nothing gets down on the surface without securing passage on a PHTS ship. The demand for in-system transit is consistently high so we aren't able to hog as much transportation capacity as we wish."

Everything related to intersystem transport constantly had to go through a very narrow pipeline. This caused considerable delays for everything.

Though Ves felt just as irked as Gloriana about the situation, it wasn't as if he was able to do anything about it. The damn Lifers never bothered to scale up their transportation fleet as trade and commerce activity kept rising in Prosperous Hill.

They entered one of the prefab structures that the Larkinsons assembled first. The bare metal walls and floors didn't even feature any markings or decorations. The bots that were supposed to beautify the interior had yet to be shipped to the surface.

The pair separated at this moment. Gloriana proceeded to the section that had been set up as a temporary design lab. Juliet and the assistant mech designers had already reached the surface as well.

While it made little difference to work on the projects on land, it saved Ves and Gloriana the trouble of needing to travel back and forth.

Performing their work on land also made it more convenient to test the final prototypes under atmospheric conditions.

While the Design Department gained a huge amount of data on the performance of the prototypes in space, the data related to their performance in other settings came from other sources.

Since at least some of the Hexer mech designs were purely landbound designs, Ves and Gloriana had no choice but to outsource the prototype testing to a specialized testing company based in the Hegemony.

Establishing this relationship made it convenient to test the Design Department's non-Hexer mech prototypes with the testing company as well.

Yet no matter how much data the Hexers produced, it was all second-hand. They didn't know LMC mechs as well as the Larkinsons and there were certain aspects that were very troublesome to verify in practice due to incompatible glows.

In short, Ves and Gloriana believed it was better to perform the final round of prototype testing themselves. Their extensive knowledge and familiarity in their own work allowed them to conduct much more pertinent tests.

While Gloriana went off to check on the preparations for the upcoming tests, Ves moved up a couple of floors until he reached the room that would become his office for the foreseeable future.

Lucky and Clixie had already snuck out in order to explore the surrounding grounds. Both of them wanted to make the most out of their time outside a confining ship.

As Ves settled on his foldable office chair, he decided to call in Major Verle.

The senior mech officer was right next door. It took less than a minute for the former Vandal officer to enter the office.

"You called?"

"I did. Please take a seat."

Once the older man made himself comfortable, Ves began to ask a few routine questions.

"How many mech pilots do you plan to recruit?"

"That is still under debate." Verle replied. "Ideally, we'd like to recruit 10,000 second-class mech pilots, but that is more of an aspiration than a goal. We are also aiming to pick up at least 40,000 support personnel. Do keep in mind that we expect a portion of these recruits to bring their families along, so our numbers will balloon significantly to more than 50,000 people in the most optimistic scenario."

That would more than double the membership roster of the clan. This was a massive expansion that would surely strain the cohesion of the clan. Even if the Larkinson Network helped with binding the new recruits closer to the clan, considerable changes were inevitable.

Ves perceived a potential issue.

"There will be a considerable division between our new and existing clansmen. Most of the recruitable personnel in this star system either consists of Lifers or citizens of other states in Majestic Teal. What is worse is that they are all second-raters. They enjoy an inherently superior upbringing. Their professional qualifications are also leagues better than that of the Larkinsons. I bet the more competent second-raters also enjoy at least a basic suite of second-class augments, which means that they are doubtlessly better at their jobs than the old-timers."

Major Verle grew grim. He was already aware of the implications.

"This means the old guard are at risk of getting supplanted by the newcomers. So far, our clan is principally organized as a meritocracy. One of our principles is that the most qualified personnel deserves to occupy the most senior positions. Back when we solely hired third-raters, this has never been a problem because everyone started from the same point."

This was different. Ves and the rest of the clan faced a very difficult choice. Should they adhere to their current policies or should they change tack and insist on protecting the old guard by emphasizing seniority?

As Ves puzzled over this dilemma, Verle voiced his own views.

"I think that it is very premature to promote an excess of second-raters to senior positions. Qualifications are important but they are not the only factors that determine whether people are suitable to take on greater responsibilities. Instead, I think they should be humbled by placing them on the lower rungs of the ladder. This not only protects the positions of those who have worked hard to grow our clan to this point, but also allows the passage of time to smooth out the differences between the newcomers and the established clansmen."

Second-rater had an awful tendency to look down on third-raters. If too many of them were placed above third-raters, then this behavior would only grow worse.

This was not what Ves wanted to see.

By reversing this situation, Verle believed that it would do a lot of good in narrowing the differences between the two groups. If the older and more established Larkinsons were allowed to boss around the supposedly-superior Lifers and former citizens of other powerful states, then they wouldn't suffer from an inferiority complex.

Though all of these assumptions and predictions sounded logical, Ves wasn't sure whether Major Verle was right.

"I'm not entirely confident that the differences between the two groups will melt, but I do agree with the sentiment that our older clansmen should be rewarded for their service. Aside from merit, loyalty and dedication are also important to our clan. Our surviving mech pilots especially earned a lot of contributions. They should never be slighted."

Major Verle nodded in agreement. He had a vested interest in this issue. After all, he was replaceable as well.

"By the way, Verle, I think that the rank of major is no longer apt for your current position. Your actual role and responsibilities are much greater. I don't think I've heard of any major who commanded over enough mech pilots to form an entire mech division."

"That's true, sir. The only reason why I haven't brought up this proposal myself is because it is not proper for me to raise this issue. We're not a rigid military organization, there is a lot of flexibility. Our mech pilots will listen to me even if my official rank is just a lieutenant."

"Be that as it may, we can't keep you at your current rank. Our clansmen might know better, but foreigners who understand nothing about our internal situation will just think we are fools for letting a 'mere' major command an entire mech division."

Though Major Verle exhibited an impeccable amount of control over his body, Ves could clearly sense the man's excitement.

No one disliked obtaining a higher rank!

Ves chuckled in amusement. "Since you don't want to appear too partial by determining your own promotion, I guess I'll be making this decision myself. In light of your merits, your competence, the high regard of our other commanders and your current responsibilities, I'd say you should definitely be promoted to a mech colonel."

This was the most suitable rank for Verle. According to the military rank system of the Mech Corps, it represented a double promotion as Ves decided to skip the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Yet Ves wasn't finished.

"I'm not stopping at colonel. If everything goes right, our mech forces will exceed 10,000 mech pilots sooner or later. Rather than revisit this conversation in a couple of months, I think it's better to settle the issue in advance. Congratulations, Quinlist. You're a general, though only on an interim basis for now. Once the Larkinson Assembly approves my proposal, you'll become a general for real."

He didn't think the Larkinson Assembly would vote down the proposal to promote Verle to this rank. While it was true that the Larkinson Clan suffered a lot of casualties when he was in charge, the losses weren't his fault. He had done his best to manage all of the mech forces and coordinate them in battle. There was no one else in the clan who was more qualified to lead the military wing of the Larkinson Clan than Verle!

"..Thank you, Ves. Though if I may make a request, please don't call me by my first name."

"Whatever you say, Quinlist."