The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3379

Chapter 3379: Slide to Monarchism

The entire Larkinson Clan spontaneously celebrated a holiday of sorts.

It was strange. Plenty of children were being born in the fleet. The entire fleet had gained enough population to turn into a moving city, which presented a host of new problems.

Yet the joy of welcoming new children and raising them in a comfortable environment was worth all of the effort. With a fantastic ship like the Vivacious Wal in the Larkinson fleet, the clan was able to offer a standard and mode of living that emulated life on planets as closely as possible.

The abundance of facilities and the family friendly policies set by the clan administration encouraged a lot of Larkinsons to start new families. More and more couples tied the knot and new babies were being born every passing month.

However, the appearance of one particular baby attracted the attention of every Larkinson.

The founder and current leader of their clan had finally produced an heir!

The happiness and jubilation that surged from the clansmen was unexpectedly great! Although the Larkinson Clan technically wasn't a monarchy, the behavior exhibited by the rank and file was reminiscent of the reaction of citizens living in a well-liked monarchical state!

Everyone acted as if Ves was their king and sovereign and that it was already set in stone that his children would inherit his leadership position one day!

Some of the more sober, higher-ranking leaders recognized what was happening. Their thoughts on the phenomenon were rather mixed.

On the other hand, Ves effectively built the clan from the ground up. Even if plenty of other competent and talented Larkinsons rose up and excelled in their own duties, no one discounted the pivotal role that their patriarch played in pulling their clan up to the same height as other powerful second-class organizations!

Despite the occasional setbacks and near-ruinous disasters, his success was undeniable. The Larkinson Clan was still heavily reliant on his accomplishments to this day.

Since so many Larkinsons not only witnessed but participated in the endeavors that enabled the clan to rise, they developed a great appreciation for the principal person that made it all possible.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, their regard for their patriarch became so strong that they treated him as if he was their king.

The ironic part of all of this was that neither Ves nor the clan administration explicitly pushed this stance. It just spread organically among the clansmen as their own experiences effectively indoctrinated them into putting Ves up a pedestal.

This had many consequences, one of which was celebrating the birth of a specific child even though it seemed irrational to single out a specific baby! _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}

Technically, the daughter of Ves Larkinson and Gloriana Wodin-Larkinson was just an ordinary newborn clan member. The baby girl did not possess any more rights or privileges than any other baby born into the clan.

Yet everyone assumed the child was special. From the extravagant amount of money spent to breed a designer baby to the support of two of the most important people in the clan, there was no doubt that even if the girl was not a princess, she was effectively royalty in the clan of her birth!

This was a good development to those who believed in Ves' vision and leadership. Friends and loyalists such as General Verle, Venerable Joshua and Calabast each saw more advantages than disadvantages in this development.

"We need strong leadership."

"We need continuity."

"We must retain the status quo."

There were other Larkinsons that held the opposite view. There weren't many of them, but people like Venerable Jannzi, Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse and other concerned Larkinsons became profoundly worried at the current direction of the clan.

"Our clansmen deserve a voice."

"How can we stop the abuses of our patriarch?"

"Will our clan continue to descend until it turns into Ves' personal kingdom?"

These people strongly maintained the ideal that the Larkinson Clan was not solely the property of its founder. Though the patriarch had indeed gone above and beyond to turn it into a thriving family organization, the interests of all of the other people that make up the population should be met as well!

In truth, the division that was just starting to emerge was not unique in the clan. Since humanity ascended to the stars, questions of rights, ownership and power continued to plague the colonists that settled on different planets.

These conflicts usually resulted in two different outcomes.

When the sponsors, funders, owners or entrepreneurs that organized and led the colonization effort won the power struggle, they usually set up kingdoms and empires that solidified their power.

One of the defining traits of these feudalistic states was that the right to rule was intricately bound to inheritance. Bloodline and parentage were the principal factors that determined whether someone held authority.

Such states tended to concentrate much of their wealth and power to the ruling class. The major downside to this was that commoners who worked harder or possessed more talent often did not earn the status and rewards that they deserved.

States could go in the other direction as well.

When the masses of a colonized planet successfully wrenched power away from the original founders, they formed republics where leaders were either voted into office or decided through other means.

The central assumption of these kinds of states was that no one should possess a greater right to rule than others. Just because the parents were rich, smart or powerful didn't mean that their children automatically got to be in charge!

In theory, the most competent leaders who earned the greatest public support held office.

In practice, it rarely worked this way.

Soon, she suited up and hopped into the cockpit of her mech. What stood out from her was how everything had changed, yet remained familiar as well. The entire interior of the cockpit had been upgraded, but the layout and the structure still resembled the old one in many important ways.

"You're good to go, Venerable Jannzi." Ketis told her over the communication channel. "We don't know what to expect from your first activation, but just in case, we will be towing your expert mech out into space first before you can interface with it for the first time. Please remain patient."

"Understood.

Both Ves and Gloriana had become so besotted with their new baby girl that they were completely unavailable to supervise the initial testing sessions of the new Shield of Samar.

It did not matter too much. Ketis and Juliet could undertake this responsibility just as well. Both of them had already tapped into the telemetry of the Shield of Samar so that they could pay careful attention to its performance.

While the Design Department already came up with a certain estimation of the Shield of Samar's performance, all of the modeling and simulation results only applied to a normal expert mech.

No one was able to guess how much better a masterwork version of the finished Bulwark Project performed.

If the Amaranto was a good indication, then Venerable Jannzi ought to be able to exert a disproportionate amount of power compared to other expert pilots!

When the large and heavy mech was finally towed into a zone of space that was surrounded by a large and active interference field, Ketis finally allowed Jannzi to activate her new expert mech.

Just seconds after the initial systems warmed up, the entire Shield of Samar blazed to life in a strong and exuberant fashion!

The entire Shield of Samar glowed in welcoming blue as it spontaneously resonated with its only partner. Despite the complete overhaul of the entire mech frame, the identity of the mech still remained the same. Not a single sign of incompatibility or unfamiliarity emerged during the entire interfacing process!

To Venerable Jannzi, it was like coming home after a long day of work. The only difference was that her abode changed from a single house into a sprawling mansion!

The new Shield of Samar was so much greater that Jannzi felt as if she could properly propagate her power for the first time since she advanced to expert pilot!

"This… this is what I have sought for all these years!"

Not only that, but her Shield of Samar also gained several powerful new enhancements that enabled her to exert her willpower more easily in specific ways!

Her eyes opened up as she and her expert mech eagerly activated one of the new functions.

"My mech is as heavy as a planet! My will is as dense as a black hole! Gravity Well!"

In an instant, the masterwork expert mech generated a strong attraction around its frame that already began to pull in some of the closer bots!