The Mech Touch

were more set in their ways, the younger generation had adapted to the recent changes in the family the fastest! While many young Larkinsons still dreamt of serving in the Mech Corps, even more were lured by the promises of working for Ves!

Though Ghanso sputtered with outrage, Ves continued to sit while projecting confidence as he waited for the Larkinsons to make their choices known.

After several minutes, most Larkinsons who wanted to make their choices known had issued their votes.

”Alright. ” Ves spoke.
”Every available Larkinson has spoken.
Let me announce the results. ”

Ghanso narrowed his eyes as he couldn ’t help but be curious how many Larkinsons took his side.

”I will only be mentioning the Larkinsons who took part in this vote today.
39 percent of you have abstained.
No one from this group has offered any support to Venerable Ghanso or myself.
That ’s alright.
I understand if you don ’t really have a preference or simply wish to avoid taking sides. ”

Those who wanted to abstain simply didn ’t vote at all.

Perhaps if Ves was more scrupulous, he would offer the choice of abstaining as a third voting option.

The reason why he left that out was because he feared the abstainers would amount to 80 percent of the Larkinsons! After all, most Larkinsons probably disliked the infighting in their family.

The Larkinsons had to stick together! This was what they had always been taught! Strong disagreements were never allowed to fester to the point where they produced a schism!

Of course, Ves stomped on this rule like many other rules formed by his family.
No one aside from Ghanso were there to rebuke his decisions at the moment, so he was free to trample on tradition whenever he liked!

”46 percent of the family has voted in favor of letting me assume command of the Larkinson Family! ” Ves cracked a modest smile this time.
”Each of you believe in my vision for our family, and for that I thank you all for your vote of confidence! ”

”Hey! This vote is farce! It ’s not representative of the family at all! Only our wisest, oldest and most honorable Larkinsons should be making these decisions! ” Ghanso objected.
”Even if I let this go, you should at least include every Larkinson instead of excluding those like Colonel Ark Larkinson who is busy saving us against the sandmen! ”

Though Ghanso had a point, Ves outright ignored his protests, thereby diminishing their weight!

”The remaining 15 percent of you have chosen to side with Ghanso, who wishes to perpetuate our current traditions.
I think it is clear who has won this vote! ”

Instead of shouting at him again, Ghanso suddenly retracted his outrage and looked at Ves with an anticipating grin.

”Do you believe you ’ve won, Ves? This vote of yours has no basis in our family ’s rules.
As far as I am concerned, the Larkinson Family is still the same! Just wait for my arrival to your little headquarters, Ves.
I will be arriving soon to escort you to safety.
As for our family, we should do everything properly and make a decision by convening the steering committee after the sandman invasion has passed. ”

Perhaps knowing that Ghanso would not be able to accomplish anything, he cut the connection, leaving Ves to face the Larkinsons alone.

While it appeared that Ves had gained an absolute advantage over Ghanso as a result, he knew that his victory would only be empty as long as Ghanso succeeded in taking him away!

Right now, Ves had to return to his primary goal and convert the gains he made into a way to extricate himself from this crisis!

To do that, he needed to make use of his newly gained authority and appeal to the Larkinsons once again!

”My fellow Larkinsons.
You have heard Venerable Ghanso.
His dislike towards me is evident.
He hates me because I want to change the Larkinson Family for the better! While I do admit that this vote is not fully representative, I have won a majority of your support! ”

Whether the Larkinson Family would truly acknowledge his victory remained to be seen.
However, it was difficult for other Larkinsons to band together and argue against his decisions at the moment!

This gave Ves the opportunity to make use of the halo he gained from ’winning ’ the vote!

I hope that those of you who disagreed or abstained will respect the opinions of the majority of our family.
As your temporarily-appointed leader, let me begin with a request! Those like Ghanso and the paltry 15 percent of our family do not wish to see me follow through with my promises! They wish to deprive you all of the wealth and fortune that only my mech company and I can provide! ”

He clasped his hand and tried to look a little desperate.

”Let us stop Ghanso by showing how much we disapprove of him by standing in his way! To any Larkinson on Cloudy Curtain who is serving with the Avatars or Sentinels, please lend me your support today! I am granting every Larkinson permission to board any mech they like and deploy in front of my headquarters! ”

He could sense the shock from his audience! Was he asking for them to fight against a fellow Larkinson and an expert pilot?! This was outrageous!

Ves quickly raised his hand.
”I am not asking you to fight! I am not asking you to point your weapons at Ghanso ’s expert mech or push it back! I am just asking you to form a wall of mechs to make your stances clear! Family should never attack family! Let us stop this rule breaker from pursuing his personal vendetta! Stand with me, Larkinsons, and fight for a brighter future! ”

He ended his broadcast at this point.
His office descended into silence as he had finally made his gambit.

Were the Larkinsons brave enough to support him by standing in the way of an expert pilot of the family?

After a few minutes had passed, the first mechs piloted by the Larkinsons already started moving out of the bases of the Avatars and Sentinels.

Ves inadvertently smiled as the Larkinsons started to show their support.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc..
), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.