His fleet was growing bigger and bigger. Ves felt as if he was in the process of accumulating every outcast or exile from the Komodo Star Sector!
So far, his forces consisted of outcast Larkinsons, Brighters who forsook their state to follow him to the Red Ocean, the mbers of the New Ylvaine Dynasty, the Battle Criers, the Black Cats and now the Penitent Sisters!
It had beco increasingly more cumberso to Ves to manage all of these disparate groups, especially since they were so distinctive and eccentric.
Fortunately, his decision to delegate most of the managent to his deputy leaders has worked out so far. He no longer needed to pay any personal attention to the running of his individual groups.
The sudden addition of the Penitent Sisters didn't intimidate him once he got over their rabid anti-boy tendencies.
When Ves, Gloriana, Calabast invited the three representatives of the Hexer outfit to the Scarlet Rose's conference room, the tension between them was palpable.
Commander Valerie Chancy did not do much to restrain her dislike. As the leader of the Penitent Sisters, her open negativity did not reflect very well on her leadership.
Supposedly, the Penitent Sisters disavowed their extremist ways. Ves did not see much repentance in their eyes. Only hatred and disgust welled within their minds.
When Ves inspected them from a spiritual perspective, he saw nothing that made him doubt his initial judgent!
Once everyone sat down, everyone looked at each other in a rather tense standoff.
What Ves found curious was that while the Penitent Sisters directed most of their ire towards Ves, they weren't very happy with Calabast and Gloriana either!
A state as big as the Hexadric Hegemony always contained a lot of internal division. Different interests groups and ideologies often clashed against each other. The Penitent Sisters just happened to be part of a cult that lost a power struggle.
From the looks of it, the extremist Hexers still harbored a grudge against ordinary Hexers!
"ow."
Lucky glanced vigilantly at the three Penitent Sisters. The gem cat obviously picked up the hostility emanating from the Hexer exiles.
"Miaow."
Clixie was the sa. She rested on the conference table in front of Gloriana but her muscles were all tensed up. There was no doubt she would claw out the faces of the Sisters if they posed a threat to her owner!
Ves held the Larkinson Mandate in his hands. He felt a bit more confident and grounded when he held the book.
No matter how much the Penitent Sisters tried to glare him to death, the reassuring glow emanating from the book bolstered his defenses and allowed him to maintain the deanor of a leader.
Nyaaaa.
The Golden Cat affectionately rubbed against his spiritual presence. The love and trust she held towards him dispelled so of his nervousness.
The others were also affected by Goldie and the Larkinson Mandate.
Gloriana held just as much affection towards the book while Calabast was oddly intrigued by its extraordinary properties.
As for the Penitent Sisters, the longer the silence stretched on, the more the book seed to magnify in presence.
Though none of the three won possessed spiritual potential, today they beca exposed to Ves' characteristic glows for the very first ti!
The chs in the Scarlet Rose's ch hangar and the Larkinson Mandate both caused the won to reevaluate their impression towards their new 'employer'.
"Welco to my group." Ves eventually spoke once he regained his calm. "While the circumstances surrounding your disposition are unusual, I hope we can maintain a cordial working relationship."
"Let be honest, 'sir'." Commander Chancy spoke up with her harsh and barely-restrained voice. "None of my sisters want to work for you. If it was up to us, we would rather throw ourselves at the Fridayn in the frontlines. You robbed us of this chance to redeem our honor."
"Commander, I think you are mistaken about sothing." Calabast interjected as she crossed her arms. "You are on punishnt duty. The opportunity to redeem yourselves is a privilege, not a right. Whether you deserve absolution or not depends on your sincerity to abide by the terms of your punishnts."
Gloriana spoke up as well in her formal tone.
"Serving us is an honor in itself. My boyfriend and I are so of the most prominent young Journeyn of this entire star cluster! It is not a disservice that your Penitent Sisters are assigned to protect us. The more we can work uninterrupted, the more we can contribute to the war effort. In ti, I am confident that our ch designs will be able to tip the balance in the Hegemony's favor!"
"We have already managed to do so in the Sand War. It will be no different for the Komodo War." Ves backed up Gloriana's boasts even though he didn't feel so confident himself about her assertion. "The Friday Coalition has already attacked several tis. If you are truly a proponent of the Hegemony, then you should do everything possible to protect us against every threat. With many millions of Hexers chs clashing against Fridayn chs at the frontlines, do you really think your little outfit can shift the outco of the war? Trust , the best way you can help your fellow Hexers win the war is to allow us to design our chs without interference!"
Obviously, his statent didn't sound credible to the Penitent Sisters. While they grudgingly respected Gloriana's ability, they held no good opinion towards male ch designers!
Perhaps in their eyes, allowing Ves to design chs for the Hex Army was a disaster in the making! Only their oaths and other restrictions prevented them from shooting him to pieces!
While Ves was sure he could count on the Penitent Sisters to abide by their oaths, it was best not to test their limits. He didn't intend to order them around like dogs or squeeze them until there was nothing left.
While it was too much to ask to earn their loyalty, Ves nonetheless wanted to turn the Penitent Sisters into an elent he could rely on. Right now, the Glory Battalion had suffered substantial losses and still hadn't replenished all of the chs it lost at the Battle of Kesseling VIII.
With the loss of so many second-class chs had always made Ves nervous. Now that his escorts were bolstered by the addition of six-hundred second-class chs, he had nothing to fear now! The persistent worry that the CRC might try to catch up and intercept his fleet had disappeared now that his forces were ten tis more difficult to defeat!
As Head Designer Staros passed on so files detailing the ch roster of the outfit, Ves was very satisfied with the chs that joined his fleet's protection detail.
While the Penitent Sisters nominally brought 300 spaceborn chs and 300 landbound chs, in practice both chs were sophisticated enough to operate in any standard environnt. Second-class chs above a certain price point were almost designed to accommodate multiple environnts, and this ti was no different.
Certainly, on land the landbound chs could easily crush the relatively more fragile chs. In space, the spaceborn chs held an undeniable performance edge against the sluggish landbound chs.
However, even if the chs could only exert seventy to eighty percent of their potential in a different environnt, that still put them heads and shoulders above any third-class ch!
With so many formidable second-class chs bolstering his fleet's defenses, Ves was confident he could co out on top against a third-class ch division!
The value of all of this added protection didn't just secure him against the Friday Coalition. Ves also felt much more confident about his relations with other states!
The Penitent Sisters ford a very scary deterrent against betrayal by state actors. Not only was it costly for third-rate states to overco 600 second-class chs, but their presence around Ves also signified that he enjoyed solid support from the Hegemony's governnt!
It couldn't be more clear that ssing with him ant ssing with the Hexers! Considering the frightening reputation the Hexers accrued over the years, Ves believed that the Penitent Sisters wouldn't even need to fight any battles.
Their presence alone was enough to scare away every opportunist!
As Ves quietly studied the ch roster, he humd and made so noteworthy observations.
The chs of the Penitent Sisters mostly consisted of second-hand castoffs. Ves had the impression that Hexer outfits all traded in these machines when they decided to refresh their ch lineup when the new ch generation kicked into gear.
Pretty much every ch consisted of comrcial midrange chs. They lacked the exclusive components, materials and features seen in the chs fielded by the Hex Army, but Ves already expected that. It was too much to ask for the Hegemony to provide him with their best chs and tech.
Even so, the Hegemony made sure that Ves didn't get too many goodies. The chs assigned to the Penitent Sisters were quite worn and exhibited frequent repairs.
They were nearing the end of their effective lifespan. On average, they wouldn't last more than half a decade or so, though that was dependent on many factors.
He looked up from the projected list. "Miss Staros, how long do you think your maintenance crews can keep the Sister chs in working condition?"
Though the female ch designer didn't want to answer this question, she wasn't gutsy enough to violate her oath.
She answered his question with gritted teeth.
"I am confident that most chs will be able to perform reasonably well for at least three or four years. After that, the decay will accelerate and breakdowns will beco more frequent. If you refuse to provide us with the funding and materials required to produce replacent parts, then the chs won't be able to perform up to expectation."
"How well can you service all of your machines?"
"Not that good, 'sir'. While we can effect a lot of repairs in the ch workshops in our combat carriers, we lack a dedicated factory ship or logistics ship. We used to possess an outdated fleet carrier, but the Temple of Hexism took her away from us when we received our latest assignnt."
Juliet Staros resented that, of course. Even a small, sub-capital fleet carrier provided a lot more servicing capacity than a cramped combat carrier that was stuffed with chs and armor!
The removal of such a valuable fleet asset significantly crippled the outfit's ability to service all of its aging but still sophisticated chs. None of the ch workshops of his third-class ships were capable of servicing higher-classed machines.
"I'll solve your maintenance problems in ti." Ves promised. "The Hegemony wants to replace your existing chs with machines of my own design, and I intend to fulfill this obligation."
The faces of all three Penitent Sisters worsened. To them, forcing their ch pilots into the cockpits of chs designed by boys was one of their worst nightmares!
Though Ves knew that their reaction was anything but encouraging, he didn't take that to heart. This was one of the explicit conditions set by the Temple of Hexism!
After going through the chs and starships of the Penitent Sisters, Ves had to decide how to manage them. Though Ves was aware that he needed to assert his authority right away, he didn't have the ti to micromanage this new outfit.
He made a quick decision.
"Once we reach the Sentinel Kingdom and have the opportunity to settle down, I'll inspect your outfit more thoroughly to enact so necessary changes." He announced. "For the ti being, you take orders from Calabast here. Right now, we are still in unfriendly space and the Friday Coalition still poses a threat from us. If you don't want our enemies to have their way, then you should do your best to fall in line and adjust to your new duties. Do you understand?"
"Yes... sir." Commander Chancy practically spat.
How lovely.
"Dismissed."
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