The Mech Touch

General Ark Larkinson did not expect to receive a harsh rebuke from Venerable Rosa Orfan.

To be fair, he deserved to hear it. He genuinely made a few missteps when he took the initiative to plan this operation and begin to set it in motion.

Was he being selfish?

Perhaps. Every human was selfish to a degree, and high-ranking mech pilots were usually more self-centered for obvious reasons.

That was not a problem in most circumstances, but it became a distinct issue when they started to assume leadership responsibilities.

There was an inherent conflict between selfishness and command authority.

When a leader had been entrusted with authority over a military unit, that leader assumed multiple different responsibilities.

He needed to be a good custodian of that unit and make sure to keep it in the best possible condition. The leader needed to take adequate care of his troops and ensure that their lives did not go to waste. The soldiers all signed up in order to do their duty but also to advance their own careers. It was the responsibility of the leader to facilitate those goals if possible.

He also needed to obey the directives of his superiors and lead the unit in successful actions. A unit should not be coddled, especially in times of war where their strength was needed more than ever. A force that was not prepared to fight the difficult battles that they were equipped to handle was not a useful combat asset!

A completely selfless leader should not have too many issues with upholding both responsibilities. The most typical scenario that would present problems to such a leader was when times became tough and casualties started to mount in an escalating war.

A qualified leader needed to make tough choices about spending the lives of his subordinates in order to fulfill important military objectives. Those that cared too much about the lives of his troops were not suited for their positions, and should be transferred away in order to make room for a tougher commander that was willing to make the hard but necessary choices. Even then, the replacement was still expected to do whatever it took to preserve the lives of his men and prevent any excess losses.

This dynamic became a lot more complicated when the leader was selfish.

What if the officer in charge possessed strong ambitions? What if he valued his career progress over preserving the lives of his men? What if he was actively willing to throw his troops into a meat grinder in order to climb up the hierarchy at a faster rate?

The situation especially became complicated when the commanding officer also happened to be an expert pilot!

Every expert pilot wanted to become stronger. Their willpower was largely centered around the need to become powerful enough to realize their impossible ambitions. They would have never broken through in the first place if they did not desire power hard enough.

One of the reasons why it was difficult for command-oriented expert pilots to break past their stubborn bottlenecks was because they needed to resolve additional dilemmas like this. They all needed to find a balance between their responsibilities and their selfish desires for power and glory.

When General Ark looked back at his own decision-making as of late, he could not honestly judge whether he went too far. Sure, he made decisions that he otherwise wouldn't have made if he was not an expert pilot, but it was exactly because he was fairly strong that he was eager to undertake greater risks.

As Ark continued to puzzle over whether he had made any missteps as of late, he decided to share his thoughts with another individual.

There were not many people he could reach out to. Under normal circumstances, he would have called his father Benjamin or his nephew Ves for a personal talk.

If he wanted to hear out more objective voices, he could reach out to Venerable Jannzi or Commander Casella Ingvar.

Unfortunately, the stealth ship maintained a complete communications blackout.

There were not a lot of mature and thoughtful peers on the stealth vessel.

This was why General Ark eventually approached Venerable Vincent Ricklin.

"What's up, general?"

"I could use your counsel."

"Counsel? Me? Are you serious?" Vincent questioned as he paused in eating his meal.

"I need to hear another perspective on a matter that Venerable Orfan has recently brought up with me. Let me explain."

As the older expert pilot laid out Rosa Orfan's critique, Vincent's expression gradually changed from puzzlement to understanding.

"I can see why she is upset." The muscular expert pilot commented. "You really messed her up by dragging her into your high-risk operation while she is still stuck with a severely outdated expert mech. I would be just as angry if I was in her shoes. I'm not as upset because my C-Man is newer and stronger than her old Riot. That doesn't mean I am particularly pleased. I can understand your reasoning for forcing us to take part in this op, but it would have been great if you presented it to us first."

"We are at war, Vincent. I have no obligation to seek your permission. As long as the regional headquarters of the Red Association approves of my plan, then that should be enough. I also had to maintain the secrecy of this operation. The more I talk about it in advance, the greater the likelihood that the native aliens will find out and prepare an ambush. We cannot handle information as loosely as before. It is important for us to exercise tight information control and keep most people in the dark as long as possible."

"Talk like that just reinforces Rosa's accusation that you don't care at all about the rest of us." Vincent frowned. "Look, I get it. We are all expert pilots. We don't need any coddling. That doesn't mean we want to be treated like crap. She is right that a more caring leader like Commander Casella would definitely make a greater effort to bring us on board sooner."

"Even you think this way?"

"Yes, but I don't think that Casella is necessarily better than you, Ark. Before I joined the Larkinson Clan, I worked for a mix of different leaders, each of whom were crappy in different ways. Compared to them, you are not that bad. You can be counted upon to make the tough but necessary choices, I suppose. We are not here to have a picnic. We are here to fight. It is a luxury if everything goes in our favor."

General Ark did not expect Vincent to speak such sage words. The younger expert pilot did not behave as immature as his public image suggested.

"So you prefer to be led by me or Commander Casella?"

"I don't regret my decision to transfer into the Warborn." Vincent shrugged. "I still trust you. I trust Casella as well. The two of you have different leadership styles. I think I would feel more comfortable if I was placed under the Sentinel Commander, but I also think my chances of breaking through won't be as high. She cares about her men, which is good if keeping us all alive is the only priority. However, it is because she cares about us that she is reluctant to send any of us out on risky missions where we could fall at any time. Without all of that tempering, we won't be able to progress as quickly as we want. She is always present and ready to catch us as we fall, but there are pilots who don't necessarily need or want a mother hovering protectively over their heads."

In other words, if Commander Casella could be described as a somewhat overprotective mother, General Ark could be likened to a neglectful father!

The trueblood Larkinson looked bemused. "I see. That is a refreshing opinion for me to hear. Thank you for helping me clear my confusion. Rosa Orfan may be correct that I do not 'care' about my subordinates in the way she prefers, but that does not mean my command approach is necessarily wrong. As mech pilots, we signed up for a life of duty and hardship. None of us are destined to live peaceful lives. I may be accused of pushing my men hard, but they are all elite mech pilots, or else they wouldn't have been able to enter the 77th Warborn. I cannot promise everyone that they will remain safe, but I can at least give them plenty of chances to earn glory on the battlefield."

The pilot of the C-Man chuckled. It was as if Ark made an unintentional joke.

"You sound like Patriarch Reginald at times. Bits and pieces of him must have rubbed off on you. How much do you care about glory, actually?"

That was a good question. General Ark frowned as he tried to tackle this question in a serious way.

He soon found that it was hard for him to supply a clear answer.

"I… have always cared about glory, I suppose. There was never a time when I was not in a prominent position. I was a prodigy during my academy days. I entered into service at the right time when the next Bright-Vesia War had just unleashed. I managed to make the Larkinson Family proud by breaking through as an expert pilot. I received promotions and began to lead larger and more powerful mech units. After that… I stalled and meandered around for a long time."

"You stopped earning glory when the war had ended."

"Quite so. It was… not frustrating, but disappointing. As much as I do not like to admit it, I thrive in conflict. This is the time where my services are the most needed and appreciated. I am always in a better mood when people look up on me and depend on me to deliver them victories. I suppose it is not a coincidence that my ability as a command specialist is so centered around myself. I seek to rise above the occasion because it earns me glory. This is good for me because more people will respect me and worship me as their savior and protector, which in turn feeds back into my strength."

General Ark did not see anything wrong with this. He did his best to step up and become the brightest presence on the battlefield so that he was better able to fulfill his objectives.

He did not think he was neglecting the others who were left in the shadows. He cared for them in his own way, which was to give them enough opportunities to stand out and break through in battle.

If doing so meant that he had to expose his troops to greater peril, then that was a necessary sacrifice.

Ark felt a lot more comfortable in his skin after making this realization. He was no Commander Casella, nor did he have any wish to resemble her. Neither of them were necessarily right or wrong. They were just different.

"You're a man." Venerable Vincent said. "There is no need for you to apologize for that. Embrace your manhood and dominate the battlefield in the best traditions of our gender. I don't know about the others, but you can count on me to follow you and cover your back, at least while I am still a part of your Warborn. I am with you on this. We can't remain passive all of the time. We need to attack not just because it is a better way to contribute to the war effort, but also because I don't think I will have any chance of breaking through if I act like a turtle all of the time."

Vincent simply did not care about the risks of the upcoming operation in the same way as Orfan. That ultimately set the two apart and caused them to have wildly diverging opinions about whether General Ark was right or wrong.

Whether Vincent was right to feel confident about this risky operation remained to be seen.

Ark just hoped that Vincent did not come to regret his bold stance.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!