Once Ves and Gloriana clarified some matters to their new assistants, the new recruits all left the design lab in order to resume their tour.
Ves directed some attention to his students. Maikel and Zanthar Larkinson had been listening quietly on the side while holding two feisty cats in their arms.
"Meow."
"Miaow."
"Are the two of you enjoying yourselves?" Ves asked.
"Oh, uhm, yes, sir." Maikel stammered.
Neither of the two youngsters knew if it was appropriate for them to play around with the cats.
"It's fine." Ves casually brushed aside the issue. "The Larkinson Clan is known as the Clan of the Golden Cat. Every clansman is allowed to bring their own cats to work as long as they are smart enough to avoid getting in the way."
"Really?"
"Yes. The Larkinson Assembly recently passed this rule."
As more and more people joined the clan, they became enamoured by the clan's association with cats. A trend had recently emerged where clansmen would go out into Cinach VI in order to buy or adopt a furry pet, which encompassed more than just felines!
The problem with this development was that the Larkinson Clan would be living on ships in future. This meant that their homes also functioned as workplaces to an extent.
Thinking of all of the cats, dogs, lizard, birds and more exotic varieties moving around the sometimes cramped corridors and compartments of a vessel gave everyone headaches!
Therefore, the Larkinson Assembly urgently debate this growing issue and came to a consensus.
The clansmen weren't forbidden from obtaining pets, but they were only allowed to adopt tame, intelligent and obedient pets.
They needed to be tame in order to minimize any risk of pets attacking fellow clansmen.
They needed to be intelligent in order to understand their limits and refrain from touching something sensitive.
They also needed to be obedient in order to make sure that they would not disturb people on duty.
This basically meant that no one was allowed to bring in any regular cats or animals. Only sentient genetic products such as the famous breeds of Felixia I were acceptable to the Larkinson Clan!
As for mechanical cats, those who possessed a fancy to them would have to subject them to an extremely thorough inspection. It was well-known that mechanical pets often functioned as a means of spying on their owners, and that was intolerable!
The security checks were so stringent that Ves did not expect many of the mechanical cats to pass. This was a deliberate suggestion on his part because not every mechanical critter was as unhackable as his gem cat.
The two young men already started to think about adopting their own cats now that these new rules have come into being.
Ves and Gloriana both served as stellar examples of success within the clan. The fact that both of them owned cats would doubtlessly spark a lot of copycat behavior!
What nobody knew was that Ves also had an ulterior motive for encouraging mass adoption of pets.
Though he hadn't really done his best to keep it a secret, hardly anyone was truly aware of his ability to talk to animals.
Spreading around cats and other pets onto every ship was basically the same as establishing spy networks in plain view!
Even if the cats were smart enough to become aware of their own existence, they hardly cared about complicated human affairs. Yet that did not mean they paid no attention to what the tall humans around them were up to on a daily basis!
This was why he strongly encouraged the assemblymen to pass such a generous policy. Hardly any spaceborn clan established a pet policy as loose and generous as that of the Larkinson Clan!
Anyway, Ves did not approach his students to encourage them to adopt their own pets.
"Do the two of you want to join us on our mission?"
"Uhm, is that okay?" Zanthar frowned in doubt. "We're not adults yet. I don't think the law permits us to join the mission."
Ves smirked. "I am the law. We aren't operating under the auspices of the Bright Republic anymore, so you should forget about how we do things back in our former home. Right now, there isn't any explicit rule that prohibits you from joining up. It's just that there is no reason for most of us to bring along a bunch of kids."
"What about us, sir?"
"You're different. From the moment you accepted my mentorship, you aren't an average clansman anymore. I'm not raising you to become another assistant mech designer. I want at least one of you to advance to Journeyman so that the trueblood lineage of our clan has at least one other dependable mech designer aside from myself. We original Larkinsons must continuously show our strength in order to maintain some of our hold in the upper hierarchy of the clan. You and our future expert pilots will be key in making sure the clan will stick our Larkinson values!"
With the enormous expansion of the clan in recent months, it was inevitable that most authority positions would eventually slip in the hands of adopted Larkinsons. The disparity in numbers between truebloods and adopted had simply grown too vast to prevent this trend.
If that was the case, Ves at least wanted his own group of Larkinsons to maintain at least some dominance.
"Our clan is set up as a meritocracy." Ves reminded the two Larkinson seeds. "Many opportunities exist for both the trueblood and the adopted. Officially, the two aren't even treated differently, so don't think you can rely on your bloodline to gain any unfair advantages. In the short and medium term, that might allow us to maintain our dominance, but in the long-term such arrangements will only distort our behavior and cause us to grow complacent. This is our clan doesn't provide truebloods like you with any inherent privileges!"
The Larkinsons had fought against too many Vesians in the past to realize the flaws of such an unfair system. Their current approach actually borrowed a lot of elements from the Mech Corps.
Despite the sporadic nepotism that took place in that large organization, as a whole the mech military of the Bright Republic had often been lauded for the opportunities it provided for the competent.
Due to the pressure exerted by the Vesia Kingdom in the past, any instances of gross incompetence or negligence often led to major military defeats!
Though the Larkinson Clan had long separated itself from the Bright Republic, many of the veterans in the original group still possessed much of the institutional knowledge they gained during their service.
Ves was well aware that the influence of all of these veterans caused the clan to develop a militaristic slant. He didn't think there was anything wrong with that since their fleet would definitely bump into a lot of threats in the Red Ocean.
The Larkinson Clan couldn't afford to grow soft!
He finished his discussion with the Larkinson seeds. They were so young and naive that they weren't even aware that Ves essentially forced them into taking part in the mission!
With his growing proficiency in social manipulation, it was literally child's play to make his two gullible students enthusiastic about entering a region filled with pirates and anomalous hazards!
"We won't disappoint you, teacher!" Maikel bopped his head in enthusiasm.
"We'll prove to you that we aren't cowards, sir!" Zanthar bravely thrust his skinny chest.
Hehehe. Ves would mold them into fine and brave mech designers yet. Perhaps he should put them through some combat training as well.
"Meow!"
"That's not important, Lucky."