The Friday Coalition had come to attack the Larkinson Clan. There was no doubt about that.
The sudden Fridayman fleet did not hide its identity. The fleet carriers proudly announced their identity through their IFFs!
Just to be sure, the sensor officers attempted to match the emissions, silhouettes and other observed details to the Hexer database of known Fridayman capital ships.
All of the data matched! There was a very high chance that the IFFs announced the truth.
“These fleet carriers are special.” Grand Captain Vraken told Ves. “The Eager Condemnation, the Auralis, the Amagi, the Forward Momentum and the Orca Tyrant are all built to perform raids in enemy territory. They are incredibly valuable deep strike carriers!”
“What?! All five of them!?” Ves reacted with alarm!
“It’s true. With their extended-range FTL drives, if they didn’t manage to intercept us here, they would have caught up to us eventually. In fact, there is a significant chance that this strike force has already attempted to intercept us while we were still travelling through the Komodo Star Sector.”
A weight pressed upon his heart. Ves did not need any clarification to realize that the Friday Coalition’s deep strike fleet carriers did not venture all of the way out here to have a picnic with the Larkinson Clan.
The Fridayman were out for blood!
“Wait.. only five out of eight of the capital ships are identified as Fridaymen ships, correct?” Ves frowned. “What about the other three? Where do the sub-capital ships accompanying these huge vessels hail from?”
“I think the Cross Clan can explain that better than us.” Captain Vraken replied.
Sure enough, the Hemmington Cross hailed the Spirit of Bentheim. The grand captain instantly accepted the request.
The projection of Patriarch Reginald Cross appeared into view. The man looked as if he was only a few steps away from bursting out in anger!
“Larkinsons!” The Vicious Mountainer shouted. “Our blood enemies have come to finish the job! The foul Planat Clan and the craven Praetor Clan will do everything in their power to complete their betrayal on us. Will you stand with me and fight against the foes that are arrayed against us? Let me warn you that this will not be an easy fight!”
This was not a simple courtesy call. On the surface, Patriarch Reginald was merely stating the obvious. The three fleet carriers and the fifty-odd combat carriers had all been dispatched by the old enemies of the Cross Clan.
With the enemies capable of catching up to the Golden Skull Alliance, there shouldn’t be any question whether battle was inevitable.
However, this was not the only option. If Ves absolutely wanted to avoid battle, he could command his clan to evacuate from the starships that needed longer than 3 or 4 hours to cycle their FTL drives.
That effectively meant abandoning every sub-capital ship aside from the lightest vessels!
While the Larkinson Clan would have to abandon a lot of valuable ships and mechs, by transferring all of the personnel to the Spirit of Bentheim, Ves could easily take the factory ship away on account of her multiple FTL drives.
Even if it took a whopping 18 hours for the Spirit of Bentheim to cycle an FTL drive, she had two additional ones that were more than capable of bringing the factory ship away right this instant!
Still, was this what Ves wanted to do?
No.
As Ves studied the data on the enemy fleet, he roughly estimated that it shouldn’t have brought too many mechs. In fact, he was pretty sure that the Golden Skull Alliance was able to muster at least several thousand more mechs!
Of course, there was always a chance that enemy reinforcements might drop in the vicinity at any moment. Vicious Mountain was the home star sector of both the Praetor Clan and the Planat Clan. The implication here was that the two archenemies of the Cross Clan may have invested way more ships and mechs than had currently appeared!
Ves inwardly shook his head. He could not let his imagination go wild during a crisis moment. He needed to address the immediate problems right away!
He straightened his back and faced the Cross Patriarch with the dignity of a clan leader!
“My brother. We are honored to fight by your side. Let us band together and baptize our alliance in the blood of our enemies! From this day onward, your enemies are my enemies!”
“Well said, Patriarch Ves!” The older man released a bloodthirsty grin. “I care nothing for the Komodo War, but if the Fridaymen are conspiring with the Praetors and Planats, our Cross Clan shall not let them go! We have run away from our enemies for too long. Now that my surviving clansmen have rested and replenished their strength, we shall no longer scurry away like frightened mice. If we do not make the two traitor clans bleed at least once before we depart, we are not Crossers!”
The transmission closed, leaving Ves to stew over the implications.
There was a chance the Cross Patriarch might have put up an act in front of Ves. If the Crossers made a deal with the enemy, they were in a prime position to screw the Larkinsons over.
Ves didn’t think this was the case, though. For one, the Praetor Clan and the Planat Clan used to be part of the same tribe as the Cross Clan. When Saint Hemmington Cross led the Becker Tribe, the Praetors and Planats meekly followed the lead of the aggressive ace pilot.
However, once Hemmington Cross died and the Becker Tribe was pushed back by rivalling neighbors, the former subordinate clans viciously stabbed the Cross Clan in the back!
There was no way the Cross Clan would ever forgive the despicable clans! Even if Patriarch Reginald wanted to collude with the Praetors and Planats, his subordinates would not let this come to pass!
In fact, it was much more likely for the rank-and-file Crossers to have second thoughts. Patriarch Reginald was not just a clan leader, but also a high-tier expert pilot!
Expert pilots were incredibly principled. Unless they possessed a shady background, they were always upright and honest. From his brief talk with Patriarch Reginald, Ves did not sense a single sign that the Cross Patriarch was being dishonest!
Ves turned to Captain Vraken, who nodded.
“My impression is that Patriarch Reginald Cross is determined to fight the enemy fleet. Don’t take me at my word, though. Your clan needs to perform an extensive analysis. In fact, we all need to make extensive preparations. Let us take care of the most time-sensitive priorities first.”
“Very well. Please do whatever is necessary to stabilize this ship and prepare us for battle!”
When Major Verle shifted the fleet to yellow condition, the Larkinson fleet had already begun to orient away from the arriving enemy fleet and accelerate forward. The Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan had both followed suit.
The Golden Skull Alliance was trying to distance itself from the incoming fleet.
Unfortunately, the enemy fleet arrived in a favorable position. They were already fairly close. Combined with their other advantages, the leading elements of the enemy fleet ought to be able to catch up to the Golden Skull Alliance in 4 or so hours.
If the expeditionary fleet did not attempt to fly away, then it would take a lot less time for hostilities to commence.
In fact, if the Larkinsons and Crossers were really spoiling for a fight, they would have turned their ships in the opposite direction and fly straight at the incoming enemies!
That was a stupid course of action. The intercepting party had clearly made more preparations for the battle. In contrast, the Golden Skull Alliance had only been moderately alert to the possibility of encountering enemies.
They were not running away. They were buying time to prepare whatever was necessary to increase their chances of winning the upcoming confrontation!
Every single Larkinson, Glory Seeker and Crosser became fully roused.
Mech technicians and mech designers were in the process of tuning up mechs.
Mech pilots were undergoing preliminary briefings where they learned about how the Fridaymen, Praetors and Planats fought and how to counter their fighting styles.
Sensor operators and intelligence analysts worked together to observe the enemy fleet as much as possible in order to gather vital clues about the enemy battle strength.
The senior officers were either in the process of calming down and organizing the men or planned out the impending battle.
Ves did not immediately interfere aside from ordering his subordinate mech designers to make themselves useful. There was little point in keeping them inside the design lab during this crisis. He wanted them to join the maintenance crews and do their best to figure out how to tune up or strengthen the mechs that the Larkinson Clan would soon be putting on the field!
Four hours was not a lot of time, but it presented the defenders with enough of a buffer to increase their battle readiness by at least 10 percent!
As Ves was about to start an emergency meeting with Major Verle and the other senior military officers of the clan, he received an unknown call.
He had a feeling who it was. He diverted to a private office and accepted the call.
Venerable Ghanso Larkinson projected into existence. A smug and confident expression appeared on the treacherous expert pilot’s face.
“Ghanso.” Ves growled.
“Hahaha! You didn’t expect us to drop by, did you, Ves?”
“You have shown your true colors at least. You finally can’t resist. It’s not enough for you to sell out your fellow family members. The Fridaymen have finally succeeded in corrupting you. Only the most depraved people in the galaxy would ever turn their weapons against their own family! You’re a kinslayer, Ghanso!”
“YOU’RE WRONG!” The expert pilot burst out! Satisfaction quickly made way for anger as Ves had precisely targeted his sore point! “Your clan is a farce! Not a single member is a Larkinson! You and the traitors who have turned your backs against the family. What gives you the right to claim our heritage? As for the tens of thousands of deluded foreigners who have joined your clan, they are only Larkinsons in name! Not a single drop of Larkinson blood flows in their veins. They have never been brought up in our ways. You are all pretenders!”
Ves looked shocked. It was one thing to reject the adopted members as actual Larkinsons. It was another thing to consider the trueblood members as fake Larkinsons as well!
Ghanso’s mentality had become so warped that he did not identify himself with any Larkinson anymore.
Even though the expert pilot claimed to be the purest Larkinson alive, every other Larkinson considered him to be a whackjob!
Ves turned around and stretched out his hand. Nitaa passed over the Larkinson Mandate.
Once he held the book, he briefly concentrated his mind and tried to focus on Venerable Ghanso.
As expected. The Larkinson Network failed to connect with his treacherous cousin. Ghanso hated the clan so much that Goldie simply couldn’t find anything common enough to form a bond!
The realization put Ves in a strange mood. He shook his head. “You poor fellow. You don’t know how far you have fallen. It’s not us who are wrong. It’s you who has gone astray!”
“Your lies will not sway me from my noble cause!” Ghanso spat. “The True Larkinson Family will rise again, and the first step to doing so will begin today! Once I wipe out your clan, I will confront Uncle Ark and the remaining Larkinsons. If my misguided relatives recognize their faults, I will generously lead them back into the light. If they have fallen to darkness, then I will wipe them out just like I will erase you from existence! Even if I am the last Larkinson alive, I shall assume the role of the second Larkinson Ancestor. Our heritage and our bloodline shall not die out as long as I survive!”
Ghanso was utterly determined to revive the original Larkinson Family no matter the cost!
“You…” Ves was momentarily rendered speechless. “You’re utterly mad!”
