141 First Night

His first day back at the Larkinson Compound reminded him why family mattered. About seventy different relatives gathered around in a dining hall that could more than two hundred people. Many wives, children and elders settled into their seats.

Ves was one of few young men of working age present in the gathering. Only a couple of other cousins matches his age. They were mostly mech cadets if they were potentates and regular cadets if they were not.

The Larkinsons possessed a fairly strong aptitude for piloting mechs. A military family like theirs with several hundred years of history of piloting mechs built up a very robust foundation in their genes.