The Mech Touch

5978 Not This Again

The Fist of Defiance and the Mace of Retaliation developed a lot of infamy since they became prominent.

The father was the worst of all. He was clearly smart enough to understand the delicate political nuances that caused a lot of division among people.

Yet he often voiced his opinions and openly confronted whatever he considered stupid or wrong with hardly any restraint!

This was part of his personality and identity .The Fist of Defiance literally derived his power from opposing what he considered to be a detriment to society. His frequent impolitic remarks had made others a lot more guarded against his presence.

No one wanted to ruin relationships and cause hard feelings when a confrontation could be avoided!

The Mace of Retaliation had inherited many of his father's bad habits, but he at least distinguished himself by being a little more reasonable.

Of course, the difference was not that great. The Mace of Retaliation mainly held himself back because he was not as powerful as his father. He lacked the power to enforce his own will onto other people.

Given that a bunch of councilors tried to follow in the footsteps of the Polymath, the peak ace pilot grew alarmed with this development.

Even though the Terrans, Rubarthans and other groups were opposed to strengthening the control of the Red Collective, the Mace of Retaliation did not want to leave anything to chance.

He needed to find a way to strengthen the case against further centralization even further.

This was why he called out the father of the Red Collective.

Anyone smart enough would have been able to figure out that Ves valued his autonomy. He hated it when other people were in a position to demand his obedience.

Since that was the case, the probability that Ves would back the stance of some of his old enemies such as Admiral Amelie Jameson was extremely low!

The Mace of Retaliation grinned as he looked at the Devil Tongue in anticipation.

Anyone who assumed that the Fist of Defiance and the Mace of Retaliation lacked political sensitivity were making a big mistake.

They understood politics well enough. They simply refused to play by the rules if they became an inconvenience.

To mech pilots like themselves, they would rather confront their enemies openly than to engage in underhanded scheming.

Yet there were also times when the FIst of Defiance and the Mace of Retaliation needed to accomplish their goals through slightly more indirect means.

While the Mace of Retaliation saw no problem with drawing Ves into the current debate, there were many other councilors that thought otherwise!

There had been far too many cases where the Devil Tongue completely upended the status quo and somehow swayed the majority into taking new and unprecedented stances.

Will the infamous Professor Larkinson detonate another verbal bomb during this session?

Nobody knew for certain, and that was exactly why so many people felt bothered by inviting him to speak!

Couldn't the first session of the Interim Leadership Council proceed in a more orderly fashion?

Everyone already possessed at least arough understanding of each other's stances. The Evolution Witch had already drafted much of the framework of the Red Collective out of the public eye. The sessions should mainly center around filling up the gaps and forcing decisions in situations where multiple sides refused to concede defeat.

Since the important players already knew about this in advance, they could plan out their debating strategies and anticipate the moves by the opposition.

All of that threatened to become irrelevant if Ves randomly caused the discussion to go off-track!

Ves smiled at the other councilors as he steadily rose to his feet. He became more thankful that his wife had been thoughtful enough to dress him up in an expensive and custom-tailored suit. Its refined appearance helped to steel his nerves and make him feel more confident than he appeared.

In truth, his mind was racing on how he should respond to this invitation to speak.

Clearly, many councilors expected him to take the Mace of Retaliation's side and fiercely shoot back at the centralists who wanted to turn the Red Collective into a brutal fist.

Perhaps he might be more rude about it than others, but it was inconceivable that he would take the side of Admiral Amelie Jameson!

Ves could feel the old woman's stare boring down on him. She was likely waiting to launch a counterattack immediately after he finished speaking.

That was not a desirable outcome for him. He was tired of getting into disputas all of the time. There was no benefit to further antagonizing the tier 1 galactic citizens that he disagreed with. Why couldn't these people leave him alone so that he could concentrate on his mech design projects?

Alas, since the Mace of Retaliation put him on the spot, Ves had to improvise a response that should hopefully sound so harmless and meaningless that people no longer asked for his opinions.

"Ahem." Ves cleared his throat. "I find myself in agreement with the opponents of centralization. Humans long to be free and in control of themselves. They do not take kindly to being forced to obey the directives of an oppressive and pervasive central authority. With respect, I sincerely cannot foresee any future where trying to bring so many people to heel will result in a good outcome. If the storylines of so many action dramas have any basis in reality, then the inevitable consequence of heavy repression is a full blown outbreak of repressed cultivators!"

Not every councilor was willing to remain silent. The proponents of centralization had to stand up and defend their stance.

Much to Ves' surprise, Fleet Admiral Jameson displayed a remarkable degree of self-control and remained silent.

Instead, it was Master Goldstein who responded to an associate of his own faction!

"Anarchy has become a greater threat to our civilization than excessive control. War has come. It has become increasingly unsustainable for our society to be as free and peaceful as before. We must hasten our transition to a wartime footing, and that includes implementing martial law. If we do not militarize our society as much as possible, we will never be able to fight against our enemies to the best of our ability. Cultivation is an extension of our combat methods. Rather than allowing so many talented cultivators to squander their time and harbor weak commitment towards contributing to the war effort, we must identify them and treat them as strategic combat assets from the very beginning. This may not be fair to our people, but when the survival of our race is at stake, we cannot afford to hold back anymore."

A lot of councilors felt uneasy as they confronted the cold hard facts shared by Master Goldstein.

The man was a true Survivalist at his core. The survival of the human race was paramount. If that meant depriving people of some of their rights, then so be it. People such as Master Goldstein had no qualms about taking extreme positions so long as it was correct!

The Survivalist definitely made a persuasive argument this time. He repeated his earlier point, but added much greater emphasis on the consequences of refusing to mobilize for war.

Ves was actually sympathetic towards Master Goldstein's argument. It was true that a lot of states and planets hardly made any moves to prepare for war.

Many people continued to work at their normal civilian jobs instead of volunteering for military service.

A lot of industrial capacity was being used to produce typical consumer products as opposed to much more essential war materiel.

States cared more about maintaining a stable economy and keeping their citizens happy than preparing for an alien invasion that may possibly arrive one day.

The more Ves thought of how planets such as New Constantinople VIII had not gone far enough to prepare for war, the more he felt inclined to support Master Goldstein's stance.

Yet greater control was not necessarily the right answer. Ves still preferred to take the side of the Mace of Retaliation.

Ves frowned as he tried to think how he should respond to Master Goldstein.

"Personally speaking, I think that both sides have made good points. Centralization will allow us to organize cultivators a lot more efficiently. Decentralization will keep people happier and create greater diversity within the cultivation community. I think that we can settle on a middle ground that should just be enough to satisfy the majority of the council."

"<nullb>Interesting." The Evolution Witch spoke for the first time since the debate commenced. Ves almost flinched when the god pilot decided to share her opinion! "<nullb>I look forward to hearing what you have devised as an acceptable compromise solution."

"Ehm, my proposal to this dilemma is to ensure strict enough control while also giving individual cultivators a lot of leeway.

"A perfect solution does not exist." The Web Mistress chose to speak up at this time. "Nobody who has decided to attend these sessions will reject the possibility of maintaining enough control while giving enough room for cultivators to act by themselves. It is precisely because we are unable to satisfy everyone that we must choose a winner and a loser."

"I disagree, Master." Ves retorted. "I think there may be a way to address the concerns of both sides at once. Hear me out first. I am well aware that cultivators can do a lot of damage if left unchecked. A certain degree of supervision is essential to safeguard our society. However, why must the Red Collective be the organization that monitors and controls all of these potential dangers?"

That caused the councilors to realize that Ves was about to go off-track.

Ves smirked as became more confident in the argument he just came up with. "In my opinion, people respond poorly to direct control from an organization that is too powerful and distant from them. There is very little chance that a majority of cultivators will develop strong affection towards an overbearing Red Collective. Rather than letting this happen, I think it is better if private individuals and groups are allowed to create their own special cultivation organizations. This will make it so that most of the responsibility for supervising cultivators will fall onto these special organizations."

"What is the role of the Red Collective in this proposal of yours?" Master Goldstein asked.

"I am glad you asked, Master. It clearly should not be doing nothing. I think it is best if the Red Collective supervises the special cultivation organizations as a whole. This way, the former will still do what is necessary to safeguard our society. The Collective will just do so with at least one intermediary organization in between."

"Why bother with adding another layer between the Red Collective and individual cultivators? This will make it less likely that wrongdoing will be detected in advance."

"That is because every special cultivation organization is different." Ves responded in a more assured tone. "Each of them have their own goals, ideologies, cultivation methods, geographic interests and more. Similar to mercenary outfits, these cultivation organizations will appeal to different people, ensuring that the recruits will align with the predominant values of their chosen group."

"That sounds dangerously similar to cults or churches." Fleet Admiral Amelie Jameson retorted. "Your proposal will lead to widespread degeneration if that is the case. I will not allow you to replace a lesser evil with a greater evil. Cultivators must not be fooled into worshiping the gods of your own making or of other origins!"

Ves quickly shook his head. "This is not about religion! The special cultivation organizations that I have in mind are purely secularist in nature! Instead of identifying them as cults, you should instead see them as… sects. Each sect is bound by a common set of ideals and philosophies that help their cultivators practice methods that align with certain elements. The more organized the sect, the greater the consistency and the lower the incidents of cultivation deviation. Compared to the alternatives, I think this is the best way to safely spread cultivation to the general population!"

His proposal certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. Councilors seriously began to think about his compromise solution.

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