The Mech Touch

Chapter 6946  Relucant Resignation

Gloriana's expression remained composed.

"As much as I would like to lead the clan, I am cognisant enough of my own weaknesses. I agree with you all that a strong military leader is preferable to a civilian mech designer such as myself. Ves is able to overcome this limitation due to his repeated acts of courage, but I cannot replicate those feats. Ideally, one of our children should have assumed leadership of the clan, but… they are still too young."

Although the Larkinsons would not particularly mind if Ves and Gloriana engaged in an act of nepotism, it still had to be somewhat reasonable on the surface.

There was nothing reasonable about appointing a preteen child to become the leader of a clan comprising of several million Larkinsons!

In any case, Gloriana did not try to mount a fight that she could not possibly win. She saved everyone a lot of trouble with that. The issue of who should lead the clan must not become a source of infighting. No one could afford the consequences of reckless fighting.

The Larkinsons began to think of another candidate. Only one name stood out among the remainder.

"Casella." Ves mentioned her name. "I think that many Larkinsons will feel relieved if you assume the mantle of leadership after me. You have proven your competencies in both commanding troops and handling administration. You are one of the strongest mech pilots in our clan, and you definitely have the biggest brain among them all. Your unique combination of strength and intelligence makes you the best candidate in my opinion. The clan will need to rely on both to navigate the uncertain waters ahead."

She was the obvious choice. Ves was not the only one to hold this opinion. He just channeled their voice.

"The Saint Commander has the necessary prestige to become the matriarch of our clan. There are very few Larkinsons who do not respect her and her leadership abilities." Vice Director Maria reluctantly admitted. "It is also the right time for her to take over your responsibilities, sir. Your judgment and abilities has served us well when we had to navigate a mostly peaceful galaxy and society, but we have now entered an era where we are active participants of a war that can lead to the death of our race."

High Captain Gilbert nodded as well. "I have studied the Saint Commander's conduct and decision-making in detail before I joined the clan. The records that I have studied after I gained access to them does not change my judgment. Casella Ingvar does possess the capital to lead the Larkinson Clan. While her age and her lack of experience may lead to greater uncertainty, I believe it is within an acceptable range. The current patriarch was much younger when he founded the clan, so age alone should not be a reason to disqualify the Saint Commander's candidacy."

The Larkinson Clan was too young. It lacked a large cadre of long-standing members with proven leadership material. This made it more acceptable to turn to younger and inexperienced candidates.

Of course, the Larkinsons did not have as much prejudice against relatively younger leaders than others. As long as Casella's age was not too absurdly low, no one would take issue with her ascension because of this reason.

"I can respect Casella as our supreme leader. She knows what she is doing, at least." Saint Dise spoke on behalf of the champions of the clan. "I am worried that her administrative duties will weaken her ability to command us in battle. The latter must never be compromised. We need all of the advantages on the battlefield that we can get. The last incident has proven that there are always stronger enemies lurking in the shadows."

The Saint Commander finally voiced her own opinion regarding her nomination.

"I am… honored by your trust and belief in my leadership. I have to admit that I have considered the possibility of taking over the clan, but I never expected it to become real so soon. To be honest, I am willing to take over the mantle of leadership, but solely out of duty to the clan and our people, and nothing else. I do not think that I am the most ideal candidate to assume overall leadership of the clan. As Dise has said, I am already burdened with enough obligations as the commander of the Premier Fleet. I will need to delegate more responsibilities and juggle between two very different leadership positions if I am expected to become the effective leader of the Larkinson Clan. It… would be better if you consider other names before my own. You should only treat me as an option of last resort."

The female ace commander made her preferences clear. It was good news that she did not dismiss the possibility outright. It spoke much about her integrity that she was still willing to give others a chance. She clearly was not too eager to add to her many burdens.

"Who else possesses better qualifications than you?" Gloriana asked.

"There is Saint General Ark Larkinson." High Captain Gilbert mentioned. "I am… aware that he is a figure of controversy, but his dedication to the Larkinsons is undeniable. He is older and more experienced than the Saint Commander. He is stronger than the Saint Commander in strength of arms, and he has also proven to be a capable battlefield commander. His organisational qualifications are even better. He has much more extensive experience in navigating bureaucracy and fulfilling administrative duties. He has a greater history of leading independent units and understands how to operate without abundant internal and external support. As long as the clansmen are willing to trust in his leadership, he has the capacity to do well."

Maria Abselon shook her head. "The Saint General is too much of an outsider to earn much trust from most of us. As powerful as Ark Larkinson may be, everyone knows that he has a strong ego. We do not question that he cares about the Larkinsons, but the way he expresses it is different from our expectations. I think that many clansmen are reluctantly willing to let him lead our clan, but only in the absence of better alternatives. That is not the case at the moment."

"I agree." Saint Dise said. "Ark puts himself before the Larkinsons, while it is the other way around for Casella. You would have to ask most of my peers to be certain, but I think that many of the expert pilots and ace pilots of the clan will cast their vote to Casella. She has stayed with the expeditionary fleet and led us all to victory after victory. Ark on the other hand took over the Davute Branch and devoted his service to the Colonial Federation of Davute. If he is allowed to take charge of our clan, there is a risk that he will do the same as before and sell us to a state."

That caused numerous Larkinsons to frown. This was not an outlandish possibility.

The discussion continued a little further. People considered Saint General Ark Larkinson as well as a few other names, including those who were not immediately available.

Unfortunately, the Larkinson Clan suffered from a senior leadership deficit. There were many candidates who were probably competent enough to maintain the status quo, but they were far too mediocre to everyone's liking.

The founder and first-generation leader of the Larkinson Clan had proven himself to be a bold and visionary leader.

Many clansmen hoped that the second-generation leader would be just as brilliant. He or she did not have to be a carbon copy of Ves, but should at least be strong enough to proactively pursue a better future for the Larkinsons.

In the end, the gathered Larkinsons could not help but circle back to the Saint Commander. She was by far the preferred choice.

Saint General Ark Larkinson possessed enough qualifications to compete against her, but his popularity could not match the former Sentinel Commander.

"Perhaps it would be best to hold a short election." High Captain Gilbert suggested. "Even if Casella Ingvar is the superior option, we should give the clansmen an opportunity to express their own will and make them feel they have a choice in the matter. Winning the popular vote will also grant her a strong mandate. Few will be able to deny that she has a right to issue orders to the Larkinsons."

Ves nodded in agreement. "Good suggestion. I know that Ark will not be able to stand by if Casella is appointed as the second leader of our clan. A decision like this should not be made by us alone. We should at least involve other representatives and executives. Turning it into a popular vote is a decent alternative, but only if we can ensure it can be done in a reasonable timeframe. We cannot afford to let this matter drag on for months."

"It shouldn't be a challenge to hold a popular vote in two weeks." Gavin Neumann stated. "Our clan is still small enough that there are not too many barriers in our way. The lack of rules regarding succession and holding elections will take time to resolve. This is why it is better to wait for at least two weeks. We do not want the popular vote to be tainted by cheating or irregularities. I cannot imagine that the candidates will need to do much campaigning anyway."

They hashed out an initial plan to hold a popular vote.

In order to make it comprehensive enough, they would not only allow for Casella Ingvar and Ark Larkinson to campaign for office, but also other Larkinsons in good standing.

This may make the election a little more chaotic, but it would also strengthen the legitimacy of the vote.

If the clan suffered a much more acute crisis before it could be held, then the Saint Commander was permitted to take charge outright, but the probability of that happening was low.

"In two weeks, our clan will decide our next leader." Gloriana summed up the discussion. "We should ask the Larkinson Assembly to pass our proposal, but I do not think that will be an issue."

Ves watched and listened on as these clansmen essentially decided his own successor.

He knew that if he pressed hard enough, he could have pressured everyone into appointing Saint Commander Casella Ingvar outright. He felt tempted to do so in order to save everyone a lot of unnecessary time and effort.

However, he refrained from doing so because it would give her more trouble in the long run. It was better to make it clear to everyone that she earned her leadership the right way.

Ves actually felt a sense of liberation from these proceedings. He had always thought about surrendering his patriarch position to another member of the clan. Now that he had a good excuse to do so, he he pounced on it and made peace with the fact that he would no longer hold all of the authority of the clan anymore.

He would be lying if he said that he was resentful of the sudden confluence of events that forced him to resign from his leadership position outside of a time of his own choosing.

He would have preferred more to hold more agency over the matter.

At this moment, Ves just hoped that the Larkinsons wouldn't see any need to deprive more rights and privileges from him. He no longer needed to be in charge of everything in order to design his mechs, but it would be much harder to create what he wanted without access to all of the funds and strategic resources of the clan.

Still, there were many other parts of the Larkinson Clan that needed those goodies as well, so Ves should learn how to share.

A good mech designer needed to be flexible. Ves was not opposed to going back to creating works while being subjected to greater restrictions than before.