The Mech Touch

The new frontier began to show its transphasic fangs towards red humanity.

All across the border regions, the alien assault fleets relentlessly assailed the hastily built defenses of various human powers.

The problem was that there were way too many areas to cover.

Was the Red Association strong? Undoubtedly.

Did the mechers have enough warships, first-class multipurpose mechs and high-ranking mechs to cover each and every single star system across all of the zones that bordered alien space?

No way!

The answer was no different when the forces of the Red Fleet, the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact were also taken into consideration.

The cold hard truth was that humanity had too little time to transfer enough personnel and war materiel to the new frontier. The Great Severing occurred too soon, preventing the humans from completely consolidating their foothold in the Red Ocean.

This was the clever part about decisively pulling off the Ancient Refuge Plan!

These brilliant choices proved that not all of the leaders of the native alien civilizations were stupid. They would rather overestimate the threat posed by the extragalactic invaders than to do the opposite.

Although the native aliens paid a heavy price in order to teleport their entire galaxy in the orbit of Messier 87, all of it appeared to be worth it as they decisively took advantage of red humanity's many shortcomings!

As Ves returned home after his lengthy and informative visit to the Tarrasque, his mind became filled with all kinds of messy thoughts.

From learning about how red humanity's entire fate rested on the successful but extremely unlikely breakthroughs of all of peak ace pilots, to learning that he had been saddled with presiding over the Interim Leadership Council in the absence of the Evolution Witch, his entire life had taken a drastically different turn.

Ves was not ready for all of this. He felt overtaken by events beyond his control.

When he returned to Diandi Base, he waited until evening fell before he selectively shared the recent developments with his wife.

Of course, with the RA eavesdropping on his conversations at all time, Ves was being extra careful not to divulge any classified information.

This meant that he did not mention anything about how red humanity could go extinct if not a single peak ace pilot managed to break through by the end of the year.

Still, his wife made sure to keep herself informed, so even if she did not possess the same information channels as himself, she most certainly suspected that the situation was not good.

"The Red Two has already imposed an obligation for every state and large organization to contribute to the war effort." Gloriana said. "Many groups have already announced their intention to transfer their mech forces to the front. The faster the reinforcements arrive where they are needed, the lower their future obligations. Time is of the essence."

"It's a good thing that we don't have to do anything extra. Our expeditionary fleet has been making plenty of waves in the border regions in the past few years. Even now, it should already be on the way to reinforce one of the many beleaguered star systems in the 3rd defensive band."

Last he heard, the expeditionary fleet was en route to reinforce and defend one of the future focal points of the alien offensive.

The Golden Skull Alliance was not afraid to participate in a larger and much more dangerous campaign. The mech pilots yearned to make a greater difference. They were no longer satisfied with fighting one-off alien fleets from time to time. Only by trying to fend off an alien invasion on a strategically important planet would the soldiers gain more direct feedback on how many lives they directly managed to save!

The rationale was the same for many other mech pilots. The front did not lack for brave and ambitious soldiers. The strong and those who aspired to become them did not need to be mobilized at all. It was only the part-timers and those who possessed greater attachments in their lives that needed to be pushed into the meat grinder.

His wife showed a touch of concern. "The analysts on the galactic net predict that the 1st and 2nd defensive bands are destined to fall. Once that happens, the 3rd defensive band will have to face the full brunt of the alien offensive. The expeditionary fleet…"

"I have no doubt that a lot of forces will suffer losses over at the 3rd defensive band." Ves stated. "Attrition cannot be avoided in these kinds of campaigns. Our mech legions are bound to suffer a lot of attrition, but it will be okay. The mechs that will fall first are the older second-class mechs of the Phasewater Generation. We were due to replace them anyway. The aliens are just doing the demolition work on our behalf. So long as the mech pilots manage to eject and return to their motherships alive, they can quickly get back in action by supplying them with new living mechs."

"What about their old living mechs? Do you not think it is a pity to abandon the living mechs that have experienced several years of growth and familiarization?" Gloriana asked.

"Mechs are not the same as humans, honey. While I value the lives of my products, I have never overlooked the fact that they are war machines. None of my living mechs will be able to reach their full potential if they do not experience the threat of death. Sure, the elimination of third order living mechs will hurt our Larkinson Army in the short term, but it will lead to a healthier martial tradition in the long term as the remaining machines will work harder in order to increase their chances of survival."

His wife nodded. "If you think this is the case, then I will not interfere. I believe that our expeditionary fleet should at least be able to preserve itself when the star system is on the verge of falling to the alien invaders. With at least two ace pilots watching over the joint fleet, it should not be easy for the native aliens to persecute all of our warships."

"Three ace pilots, not two." Gloriana corrected.

"Did you not forget that Tusa won't be sticking around for long? Once his expert mech is upgraded to a first-class ace mech, he is ready to enter a higher battlefield. It is time for our clan to make a name for itself among the first-raters. I can think of no better way to make a splash than to fight the strongest alien fleets in the most critical star systems of the border regions."

The first-class fleet that Ves envisioned for his clan was still far from ready, but Saint Tusa should already be capable of representing the Larkinson Clan at this tech level.

Although Ves did not entirely like it, a lot of human leaders only truly paid attention to first-class combatants. Anyone who was not capable of fielding a strong enough first-class mech force would never be taken as seriously as those who could fight at this level.

Now that the mechers wanted him to take up the position of deputy chief councilor, it became more important than ever for Ves to prove that he had the muscle to back up his high position.

No matter what, he did not want to give off the impression that he had turned into a puppet of the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction!

After talking a bit more about what sort of combat the Larkinsons were about to experience, they soon moved on to Ves' altered design schedule.

"I do not like it, Ves." Gloriana frowned as she pressed closer to her husband and leaned her head onto his shoulder. "The Red Association has been trying to claim ownership over you in many subtle ways. Instructing you to abandon your current design projects and work on a project of their choosing is another way they can strengthen their grip on your life."

That sounded a bit too far to Ves. "I don't think it is that bad. There is definitely a need to push the release of Carmine mechs forward. Even if they phrased it as an optional request, I still would have agreed to shift my priorities. I don't think I am ready to complete my current projects as of yet. Technology hasn't caught up to my ambitions. Stuff will get a lot better in the next few years. Right now, it is better for me to work on low-end mech designs, as the cheap stuff doesn't demand cutting-edge technologies."

The mention of low-end mech designs was enough to elicit a frown from Gloriana. She was not able to appreciate the merits of cheaply made products.

"You do not need me to collaborate on your Swarm Project, correct?"

"It is a great honor to be able to participate in the development of the first true publicly available Carmine mech. It will be considered the ancestor of all mechs of its own new category." His wife noted with a bit of envy. "Which names are you considering? Will you turn to Master Benedict Cortez like usual? Are you thinking about selecting any of our Journeymen from the Design Department?"

"I'm good, Gloriana. I have already agreed to collaborate with Jovy Armalon and Vector Loban. The two Seniors will primarily help me design the first-class variant of the two related mech designs. I can easily take care of the third-class and second-class variants myself. There is room for two more collaborators. I am still considering who I should invite to participate in this historic mech design."

"It is a great honor to be able to participate in the development of the first true publicly available Carmine mech. It will be considered the ancestor of all mechs of its own new category." His wife noted with a bit of envy. "Which names are you considering? Will you turn to Master Benedict Cortez like usual? Are you thinking about selecting any of our Journeymen from the Design Department?"

"Neither." Ves shook his head. "Master Benedict Cortez is a fine collaborator, but he is a bit too similar to you. He only truly cares about high-end mech designs. The Swarm Project is a collection of low-end workhorses where he isn't able to display his true strength. Besides, I do not want to involve any Master Mech Designer for this critical mech design project as I do not want their design philosophies to overshadow mine. As for the Journeymen from the Design Department… I don't think they are suitable either. The Swarm Project is too important for Journeymen to mess around. I am thinking about inviting other Seniors."

"Do you know of any?"

"Not really, but I do not think that people will refuse my invitation due to my reputation and the Red Association's backing. I am even thinking about bringing in a Terran and a Rubarthan mech designer just so that their respective first-rate colonial superstates can claim partial credit for the new Carmine mechs."

"That is a politically driven approach. That usually results in suboptimal outcomes."

"I don't think it will be that bad. The Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact are both huge. There are plenty of talented and capable Senior Mech Designers among them. I just have to figure out what sort of specializations can bring the most added value to the Swarm Project before I know what to search for. The Terrans and the Rubarthans both excel in specific fields of technology. The Rubarthans are better at developing ranged weapon systems, for example."

Neither Ves, Jovy nor Vector specialized in offensive weapon systems. It was quite important to involve a proper weapon specialist in the design project as the main value of a frontline mech was to provide fire support on the battlefield.

"How soon do you intend to complete this project?"

"Within half a year." Ves decisively stated. "This is going to be a tight deadline for what amounts to 6 separate mech designs packaged under a single project, but I am confident I can make it. I just have to put a lot of other projects to the side."

"Does that mean that you will be spending less time on the Amaranto Mark III Project and the Riot Mark III Project?"

"I will try my best to do the work that is expected of me, but I won't have time to add extra refinements to them." Ves admitted. "It is not necessary. The Amaranto and the Riot already exist. I have put a lot of unique touches on them the first time around."

"I will be sure to preserve as much of their original charm as possible in the upgraded versions of their mech designs, but I cannot make any guarantees."

"Just do your best. It is not always bad to replace the old with the new."

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