That just gives him MTA bugs to practice against! And limits the pool of ears to his friends in the MTA.

Oh, the rewards will come after Ves has completed prototypes to show off. He isn't so greedy as to want an advance on possible rewards. He wants a bidding war on the actual results! And he just got a TON of free security upgrades!

And... the readers know the "message" is merely a happy coincidence of Ves's paranoia. But it makes for a useful cover story of "why the last-min change in mech selection."

Well... isn't this a *wonderful* trap card of insider knowledge Ves can use in his next negotiation. Expecially because this is all happening behind the back of YC at the behest of those fat cats back in the Milky Way. Plus, if Ves allows this attack to go off, the festival is gonna get canceled! Much better to make use of that Founding Ceromony to make a "Spirit of Duvalt" instead.

The best spy in the whole clan is probably VES! Expecially because he can gain legitimate access to the palace - and arrange to be "kept waiting" or simply socializing while his spiritual eye snoops. Expecially if he lures away with Ace mechs with some Lucky hints of infiltration.

Really? In an age of Designer Babies when one of the off-the-shelf options is "political leader"? You sure that isn't a true statement Calabast? Also, Ves better be VERY careful of how Aurelia grows up! She might "make Goldie sad" one day herself!

Instead of making a too-obvious totem of himself... Make one of Binky! And he can say the mind cat is the origin of any "glow phenomenon" that is oddly lingering around him. He can also make use of the strength of unending Alloy to make a wire-frame mech-scale totem. To visually show the "incoporial" nature of Blinky. Or as the lead holders in a stained-glass totem? Of course that means he needs to make a totem of Gloriana's cat as well. And it WILL need to be a Masterwork! (Gloriana will accept nothing less)

I think the recruiting standards have gotten too elite. Of course the reason is a lack of space and not malicious prejudice against "average humanity." It's still a very real and very harmful problem to everyone in the bottom of their class (Or bottom of the totem pole at work) This pressure cooker problem is the very thing Calabast warned against when they set up the Branch System in the first place. I hope they have a plan in place to resolve it.

Gloriana doesn't need 'incarnations' - that is Ves's thing. She doesn't have the spiritual expertise to handle it anyway. At best she is only where Ves was as an Apprentice!

I think one or two of the first ships they commission need to be additional Ship builders! Specifically a factory ship optimized to produce lots of small cutters and scout ships at a time. They already have the Dilligant Ovenbird and the unamed Shipyard Ship optimized for medium ships. Getting one (or two) optimized for the smallest sizes is a good next step!

How much more motovation does Ves need to actually make the jump to Senior? According to what we know, he should have all the pieces already - what is the holdup? Ves already made a Masterwork, learned a wide variety of topics to Senior level AND came up with an excess of original ideas! The fact no one will explicitly tell Ves what he is missing for the jump is odd. IS he missing anything?

Key phrase there is "will be built". So the Clan is gonna have to wait at least a year per ship and maybe longer! I don't know how fast the shipyards are - but I suspect not a single piece will be fabricated ahead of time to speed things up.

Actually... the deal to make a custom Spirit Guardian for Duvalt might be doable IF they get explicit permission from the MTA first. Ves is always up for a good experiment!

Yep - but only if they truly wished to be "devoted" to Ves forever

The Larkinson pilots are gonna have an unimpressive showing at this rate. Time to cheat? Or at least manage to leverage the MSTS to better fluency?

Considering the MSTS is using Vulcan for a server... I'm not sure it qualifies as "fringe". If anything it might be pretty core to Vulcan's progress!

This is when that "hot/cold" Yilvani scouting technique will shine! Just keep asking about the immediate proximity of "deadly trap".

At best the new government might convince Ves to slightly delay his plans in order to receive some new goodies. (Like ships). There is no WAY they are gonna convince him to cancel his upcoming excursion! Or to not start a new branch over in another Sector. Honestly it would be best to delay about a year - leave after that MTA seminar Ves got invited to.

NOT until Ves reaches Senior before her.

Aren't there also a ton of talented Apprentice designers just a single push from Journeyman? I bet they would do well!