The Mech Touch

5923 Simple Decision

Ves faced another incredibly difficult dilemma.

He wanted the Battleship Token. He wanted to obtain it real bad. The benefits were simply too great.

The difference between battleships and battlecruisers were huge. The latter may be cheaper and faster, but they had often proven to be too fragile to withstand the rigors of frontline combat.

In the current pattern of warfare, battleships had proven their worth many times over. The warships fielded by most of the 13 major races of the Red Ocean were not vegetables. Their powerful transphasic armaments possessed enhanced shield- breaking and armor-piercing properties, allowing them to punch significantly above their weight class.

Armor mattered. It could mean the difference between returning from a battlefield with a few scratches or with a lot of holes and crippling battle damage to the hull!

According to the reports and battle footage that Ves had perused in the last year, the Red Two employed their battleships and battlecruisers very differently.

One of the most persistent problems in space was that it was usually a giant, empty void. There was no cover at all if a battle took place away from a planet or an asteroid belt.

Battleships served as the most reliable forms of cover as their powerful azure shield generators and their thick and reliable armor belts allowed them to withstand a huge amount of punishment.

While it was true that shield link technology enabled smaller and more fragile warships to tank a surprising amount of attack salvos, there were limits to every technological solution.

Once the firepower of an opposing fleet managed to inflict so much total damage that it had practically exhausted the energy shield capacity of all of the vessels in a friendly fleet, then the only effective form of protection during this phase of a battle was plain hard metal!

Battleships truly began to show their value during the later phases of a battle. When both sides effectively lost the protection of their energy shields, one of the most important factors that determined victory or defeat was toughness and endurance!

Any serious warfleet that included battleships in their lineup possessed excellent qualifications to participate in the most intensive battles of the Red War.

Even a single battleship could make a huge difference for the Larkinson Clan as possessing one allowed his troops to gain the upper hand in attrition warfare!

So what if the enemy brought a lot of firepower? A modern human battleship of the Hyper Generation was the most powerful kind of warship in the Red Ocean, especially if she was built to the technological standards of the Red Fleet.

Ves understood the greater value of the offer. While the cost of development and production of a battleship depended heavily on her size and tonnage, even a relatively modest 3-

kilometer long warship was still far beyond the means of the Larkinson Clan.

This was why it was so important that the Red Fleet subsidized the construction of a battleship.

Aside from that, the technological demands of a battleship was much greater than a battlecruiser.

After all, the defense of a battleship relied far more than employing a lot of tough and expensive high-grade exotic materials. A whole array of advanced technologies and high-

tech production equipment was needed in order to build a vessel that could withstand a huge amount of punishment while still retaining as much combat effectiveness as possible.

Dreadnoughts were the quintessential example of how much punishment the warships of the Red Fleet could endure.

Ves had witnessed first-hand how the Dominion of Man was able to absorb and endure blows that would have shattered dozens if not over a hundred battleships!

The lightning tribulation had tested the Red Fleet's top defenses measures, and ultimately became satisfied with how well the Dominion of Man was able to withstand the might of the clone of the Subjugation King as well as numerous god beasts.

Such threats may be rare, but Ves did not think his luck would remain high enough to avoid an encounter against opponents of similar strength.

He had become way too high-profile nowadays! Not only was he responsible for a swathe of strategic technological contributions, he had also masterminded the transformation of the Dominion of Man into what the fleeters had already taken to calling a god ship!

All of this painted such a giant target on his back that any serious enemy would definitely try to bring an excess of firepower to wipe him from existence!

A regular battleship might not be able to withstand as much damage as a proper dreadnought, but it was better than all of the other alternatives!

It was just that Ves did not feel comfortable with all of the conditions that he and his clan needed to abide by in order to make use of a Battleship Token.

The more Ves thought about this option, the more he realized that he wouldn't be able to own the battleship in full.

The RF's shipwrights and naval engineers were much better at their jobs than anyone that the Larkinson Clan could employ.

Combined with their unsurpassed accumulation in battleship development, this effectively meant that the entire design and the vast majority of the high technologies incorporated into the hull effectively fell under the control of the Red Fleet!

The fleeters would know every detail that they got involved in. They were also in a fantastic position to implant all of the backdoors and listening devices they wanted into every important ship component or system.

Given that the RF's exclusive technologies were so advanced that it was impossible for the Larkinson Clan's scientists and engineers to understand how they worked, there was no way to get rid of all of the tampering!

While Ves recognized that exclusive high technologies would make his battleship a lot more powerful than if he relied on homebrew technologies, the expertise required to operate, maintain and repair all of these incredibly advanced parts and systems remained in the hands of the fleeters as well.

The reason why the Red Fleet offered to supplement the crew of the battleship with its own personnel was because the Larkinsons did not have the permissions or training to operate all of this high technology!

Suffice to say, Ves really disliked it when his strongest naval asset remained highly dependent on the goodwill of an external organization.

He would effectively hand over a large amount of intelligence and control to outsiders!

This was an insane security risk no matter how Ves viewed this situation!

The Battlecruiser Token became more attractive by the second. The warship he could obtain with the help of this permit might not nearly be as good as a proper battleship built to the most up-to-date standards of the Red Fleet, but Ves would have much greater guarantees that the warship would remain under his full control.

Ves just lamented that the price of trying to become more self-sufficient was rather high.

There was no way that he and his clan could be so cavalier about deploying a battlecruiser in a serious battle.

The enormous capacity of a battlecruiser easily allowed for the mounting of enormous primary gun batteries that were no different from that of a battleship.

Yet the enormous shortcoming in the armor belt heavily limited the battlecruiser's tactical flexibility in combat.

Sure, a battlecruiser was generally a bit faster and more agile, but this was only in a relative sense. Capital ships could never match the speed and grace of a frigate or a destroyer of the same tech level.

The resilience of a battlecruiser was disproportionately low compared to the value of such a vessel.

This caused them to occupy a rather awkward position on the battlefield.

Despite being designed and built for combat, every fleet treated their battlecruisers like fragile treasures. They were always placed in the backline and were mainly used as enormous artillery platforms.

While they were technically suited to be employed in flanking squadrons and fast-reaction units, very few people wanted to assign high-risk missions to them. They were mostly placed in the rear or center of massive fleet formations.

This meant that it was not that easy to make full use of their mobility advantage in many situations.

Ves frowned deeper. The inadequate armor belt of a battlecruiser really annoyed him. The best way to mitigate these shortcomings was to build a highly mobile fleet around this vessel.

If the design of the battlecruiser emphasized mobility over any other consideration, then Ves could foresee the creation of a warfleet that was highly suitable for mobility warfare and guerilla warfare.

There was no need for the Larkinson Clan to imitate the Red Two and collide against the Red Cabal's strongest warships.

It was much more suitable for Larkinsons to engage in raids and hit-and-run battles.

So what if the Larkinson forces targeted the weak and vulnerable? It was only sensible to avoid any encounters with powerful enemy fleets that could pose a real threat against a battlecruiser!

The upcoming deep strike operations made it more important than ever to engage in this style of warfare.

In short, so long as Ves was able to stomach the critical lack of hard defenses of a battlecruiser, he did not feel as if he missed out on too much.

The lack of subsidies, material support and technological support would make it much harder to develop a battlecruiser that could outperform an RF ship of the same class, but at least the Larkinson Clan would retain full ownership and control over their hull.

Ves would also find it a lot easier to implement and upgrade all kinds of crazy hyper technologies and E-technologies to his personal battlecruiser!

He took a deep breath and tried to weigh his decision as best as possible.

"You're not making this easy for me, huh?" He idly asked.

Captain Argile smiled back at his honored guest. "We are deeply interested in your innovative approach to shipbuilding. If you are willing to cooperate with us, we believe our collaborative efforts may further revolutionize the landscape of our industry."

Ah. Ves understood the score now.

He had a strong hunch that the Red Fleet deliberately gave him a choice between two different tokens as a test.

The fleeters wanted to test his willingness to deepen his cooperation with them. If he selected the Battleship Token, then he pretty much signaled his willingness to trust the Red Fleet and collaborate with them on a more long-term basis.

The two would no longer maintain a pure transactional relationship. They would instead be able to form a true alliance, similar to the one he already enjoyed with the Red Association.

If Ves opted for the objectively inferior Battlecruiser Token, he would signal his continued reluctance and apprehension towards developing a closer relationship with the fleeters.

It was a sign that he remained mistrustful of outsiders. His willingness to settle for less just so that he could maintain the confidentiality of his upcoming personal warship essentially showed that he wanted to maintain his distance from the Red Fleet.

Ves would probably continue to favor the mechers over the fleeters in the times to come.

While there was still room for cooperation between Ves and the Red Fleet, their relationship would continue to be defined by transactions as opposed to intangibles such as genuine trust and friendship.

The question now was how much Ves was willing to cooperate with the Red Fleet.

This was the crucial variable that determined his choice.

Ves grew pensive as he failed to make up his mind. Each selection was equally as attractive to him. They both possess a lot of pros and cons that pretty much evened out the score.

He was confident that he could make either option work.

If he took the Battleship Token, then he would make sure to maintain friendly ties with the Red Fleet.

If he took the Battlecruiser Token instead, he would stick to his original diplomatic stance by making sure he would never be at the mercy of an external partner.

"Ah hell! I am done with making tough decisions! Let's do it this way!"

Before Captain Argile could ask for further clarification, Ves grabbed the extremely precious Battleship Token and tossed it into the air.

The heavy medallion flipped as the exquisite metal piece soared over everyone's head before plunging straight onto the dark.

Clack!

The token landed on the desktop with the rear side facing upwards.

Everyone stared for a moment before Ves calmly reached out for the Battlecruiser Token.

"I'll be taking this." Ves declared.

"..."

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