The Mech Touch - Chapter 6828

Of all of the plans that Saint Commander Casella Ingvar could make, Ves never expected her to propose an invisible heist of the Bluejay Fleet.

Although the premise sounded far too outrageous to work, her arguments not only made it sound viable, but also logical!

It was as if Ves was missing the obvious all these years!

Ves began to make the realization that the Saint Commander was an extremely scary thinker and leader.

He never really noticed this because she had long been restrained by her morals, duties and honor.

Now that she was angling to become the leader of the nascent. Premier Fleet, Casella intended to take advantage of the drastic changes in society and pull out all of the stops.

In order to get closer to fulfilling her ultimate goal of becoming powerful enough to revive her brother, Casella had gotten rid of a few principles.

Perhaps many Larkinsons might regret her mental transformation, but Ves welcomed this development.

As far as he was concerned, the Saint Commander was adapting to the changing circumstances in the new frontier.

The rules that applied during a time of relative peace and stability no longer worked as well during this day and age.

The faster Casella accepted the new reality, the more effective she became. Ves began to look forward to seeing her action.

"I like your vision." He told the pilot that was currently in the cockpit of the Minerva. "You have a much better idea of what we must do in the Premier Branch than others. However, are you sure we can convert the Bluejay Fleet into our private force?"

"I am 90 percent confident that we can succeed." The ace commander answered. "That... is a really high confidence level."

"You do not realize how compelling you have become to red humans, sir. You are a legend in the making. You have yet to become 50 years old, but already you have released innovations that have strengthened our civilizations and fulfilled people's most fundamental desires. You are the Father of Carmine Mechs, the chief councilor of the Upper Council of the Red Collective, the friend of both the Destroyer of Worlds and the ally of the Evolution Witch. I am missing many more titles here, which is frankly absurd if you think about it. No other Star Designer has earned as many accomplishments as you at your age. When people see you, they do not see a

successful Senior Mech Designer. They see a future Star Designer. You would be surprised how many people are willing to bet their entire lives and careers just to ride on your coattails."

Ves was not unfamiliar with that sort of behavior. However, he did not think he was attractive enough to convince thousands of mechers and fleeters to outright betray their superorganizations!

"What you described may be true, but a large part of my value is based on my potential rather than my present capabilities." He retorted. "Do all of these first-raters have the patience to wait that long for me to become a True God? I am no Polymath. I think it will take at least 50 years for me to get close to becoming a Star Designer, and that is just an optimistic estimate.

Casella acknowledged this shortcoming. "You are correct. The benefits of serving under your leadership cannot be realized in the short term. That is where I come in. Unlike you, I have reached a rank where many people are willing to follow me. Ace pilots already attract a large amount of admiration in peacetime. Now that our side is beginning to collapse from the alien invasion, the servicemen of the Bluejay Fleet need a firm pillar that can inspire confidence in them. I shall be that pillar. The mech pilots and spacers will eagerly seek the protection of my Command Field in order to increase their survival chances. No one wants to die if they can help it. I can be their savior during a time where they need me the most."

She made a strong argument. Ves could not help but agree with her logic. No matter how well the RA and RF had trained their troops, they were still human. It was in their nature to prefer solutions that would keep them alive.

Casella Ingvar had more than proven her capacity to help in this regard. Under her valiant and methodical leadership, the expeditionary fleet consistently outperformed compared to other mech forces.

Her effectiveness skyrocketed upon becoming an ace commander!

She had fully proven her ability to lead her troops through many difficulties over repeated battles during the Red Tide Offensive.

What was most important was that the mech pilots of the Larkinson Army and other allied forces perished at a much lower rate than the norm!

This was a critical statistic as this was what many mech pilots paid attention to, whether they admitted it or not. A commander that could not only win but minimize casualties by doing so would always be popular among soldiers.

If Casella took all of this and combined it with empathy, administrative experience and a really good ace command mech, her popularity would grow so high that she may actually be able to capture the hearts of mechers and fleeters!

In any case, when the war reached their doorsteps, the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet could only depend on each other to make it through the arduous battles.

The Red Association and the Red Fleet as a whole had much greater priorities and responsibilities to take care of. It was impossible for them to send a god mech or a dreadnought to protect Ves in particular.

The only way he could enjoy so much protection was if he relocated to the Yernstall Central Star Node, which he would never agree to due to his paranoia.

Now that Casella explained her reasoning, Ves felt that her plan was a lot more plausible than before.

"I think I get it now." Ves said with an intrigued expression. "During a time of order and stability, your plan has a low chance of succeeding, but it is exactly because everything around us is descending into hell that your scheme will almost certainly work. People would rather flock to safety that is close and available to them than pine for the unreliable reinforcements of superorganizations that are drowning under their

own problems."

Both Ves and Casella saw a chance to take the Bluejay Fleet into their pocket.

It was not too important whether they could formally transfer the personnel and assets to the Larkinson Clan.

Laws and formality lost much of their importance during upheaval. Everyone would most certainly make their decisions based on their actual situation rather than

abstract rules.

Ves began to rub his hands in anticipation. The best part about Casella's proposal was that he did not have to do anything special. His reputation and extensive record already served as a compelling attraction to other people.

The Saint Commander promised to do much of the heavy lifting. Her combat prowess and long list of battle accomplishments provided a huge amount of reassurance to anyone that sought to survive and vanquish the threats unleashed by the Red Cabal! As the two Larkinsons continued to conspire with each other in the middle of a private hangar bay, Ves eventually brought up an important matter.

"Earlier, you said that the most important factor that defined the strength of an armed

force is belief."

"That is correct, sir."

"What is the belief of the Premier Fleet?"

"That is a good question. It is up to you, sir."

Ves did not expect this answer. He frowned as he tried to think what the belief of the Premier Fleet ought to be. This was much harder than he thought.

"Do you have any recommendations, Casella?"

A short pause ensued as the ace commander thought on how she should respond.

"You should give the members of the Premier Fleet a more concrete and specific belief than 'winning' or 'survival'. I believe that one of the reasons that prevented the expeditionary fleet from completely merging was because its belief was too broad and general to fully inspire everyone to unite together. If we want to assimilate the Bluejay Fleet as best as possible, then we must define a belief that can inspire both mechers

and fleeters."

That gave Ves a bit more direction. He tried to come up with a belief that was both universal enough to appeal to many people, but also specific enough to make the Premier Fleet stand out from other elite forces.

"What about... universal transcendence?" He said. "My design philosophy is defined as Mutual Growth Through Adversity. Pretty much all of my work is directly or indirectly related to helping humans grow stronger through one form of cultivation or another. I have developed many solutions that can make people stronger, from developing companion spirits to giving norms the ability to pilot mechs."

The Saint Commander thought about this proposed belief. "It can work, although it is not necessarily unique enough. The common thread to all of them is that everyone who follows us will gain access to powerful solutions that can make them stronger. These gains can make them win more battles, increase their chances of surviving the next decade and give them much greater odds of realizing their own personal ambitions. Your proposed belief may be able to attract a large number of people, but it is not particularly good at uniting these disparate groups." She was right. Universal transcendence would mainly attract selfish and ambitious people, which was not necessarily what Ves wanted.

He quickly thought of an alternative proposal.

"What about... forming and guarding a nomadic spaceborn clan of our own?" Ves offered. "We can fight to build up a formidable fleet of mechs and warships that is powerful enough to withstand many threats and avoid those that we cannot resist against. This has always been a dream of mine. I am aware that not everyone likes to live on a starship on a permanent basis, but that is what the side branches are for. The Premier Branch should predominantly be based on an ever-changing and ever-growing fleet that is fully under our control. Each and every clansmen serving in the fleet should be united by the common goal and belief of safeguarding their

fleet-based star nation."

"Hmmm..." Casella thought about the merits of this second proposal. "There are problematic implications to this belief, but it is much better at uniting people from different groups. Not everyone is attracted to this collective ambition, but there will still be more than enough talents to expand our Premier Fleet. One of the attractions of pioneering during the previous age was to be able to build a colonial state in your image. Your proposal has similar appeal to those who join early. As for the latecomers, they may be attracted to the Premier Fleet for other reasons."

Several minutes went by as Ves tried to come up with other ideas. None of them sounded as good as his second proposal.

"There is strength in nationalism. It holds universal appeal. People want to belong to a group of their own." The Saint Commander shared her own thoughts on the matter. "The Big Two tried to break the backs of the Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire by depriving them of their sovereignty, but this measure had

utterly failed. Even without the rights and privileges of star nations, the Terrans and Rubarthans still maintain an exceptionally strong culture and belief in themselves. This is one of the true sources of strength that puts them above the people of other

first-rate states."

Her perspective presented a fascinating way to look at this issue.

"If I interpret your argument correctly, then one of the strongest ways to unite the

members of the Premier Fleet under a single belief is to tell them that we are fighting

for a future where the Larkinsons are regarded as highly as the Terrans and the

Rubarthans."

It would take a lot of effort and opportunities to elevate the Larkinson Clan to such an insanely high height.

Doing this while putting much less emphasis on amassing a huge amount of resource-rich star systems was much harder!

Yet... Ves still believed that he could pull it off. If the spaceborn clans affiliated with the

fleeters were able to maintain their prosperity, then the Larkinson Clan should be able to succeed at a larger scale!