The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6282

As a mech commander, Casella Ingvar was not ignorant of the directive that ace pilots should be transferred to the Premier Branch after receiving their upgraded mechs.

By upgrading their second-class expert mechs into first-class ace mechs, they became too powerful to fight in the middle zones. The rules imposed by the mechers and the fleeters prohibited her from exercising the power of a true first-class mech among forces that were not equipped to handle this kind of power.

While these rules made sense once upon a time, Casella did not agree with them anymore. Times had changed. Rules originally used to regulate the vast territories of the human race and prevent first-raters from dominating everyone else now became a constraint that stopped Casella from serving the Larkinsons that were most in need of her services!

"You disagree." Ves stated the obvious.

"I do."

"I can understand your desire to continue to stay with the expeditionary fleet and command them in battle. However, you can make a much greater difference than that. Now that you have become an ace pilot, you need to see beyond the clan. As a member of human civilization, you must do your part for our society as well. I think that you are smart enough to know that your Command Field can make a much greater difference if you go around enhancing first-class mechs as opposed to second-class mechs."

Casella scowled. "I am not ignorant of that, but that does not invalidate the needs of our second-class clansmen. They deserve my protection just as much if not more. Whoever goes on to pilot your first-class mechs will already be piloting the best living mechs that you can make. Do they truly need all of that additional power? I much prefer to stay where I am and extend my protection and guidance to the second-raters whose mechs and lives are much more vulnerable."

"That is not the complete picture, Casella." Ves shook his head. "Second-raters cannot decide the future of our clan anymore. It is our strength at the first-class level that will determine how much of the new frontier we can claim for ourselves. The Premier Branch is too young and underdeveloped to stand on its own right now. I am still forced to rely on the protection of the Bluejay Fleet to secure my position within human-occupied space. I need to remedy that as quickly as possible, and it is not enough to have Tusa by my side. With your help, we can amplify all of our standard first-class living mechs to a level that allows them to rival an entire first-class mech corps with only a fraction of the numbers! This will become the true foundation of our clan going forward. The benefits of being able to protect our interests without relying on outside help is much more consequential than you think."

Ves resented the fact that he was still at the mercy of the Bluejay Fleet. Even though the Survivalists and the Transhumanists were fully on his side at the moment, who knew whether this would change in the future.

Only the power base that answered to himself was reliable!

Right now, the mechers could easily push him around due to his overreliance on their protection. The balance of power in their relationship was too disadvantageous on his side.

Forming a proper first-class mech force and having Saint Tusa and Saint Casella preside over it was the best way to remedy this shortcoming!

With the Dark Zephyr Mark III acting as the principal champion and the future Minerva Mark II acting as an insanely effective force multiplier, none of the first-class powers would dare to look down on the Larkinson Clan anymore!

"I hate to say this Casella, but I think Ves is right." Tusa said. "The middle zones and the lower zones are marginal battlefields. The leading powers of both sides have refrained from investing too much of their best assets in these zones because they simply don't matter as much. The Red War will mainly be decided on whether our side can hold onto the upper zones. That is where most of the phasewater and high-grade materials are found. If your intervention in the higher-level battles can help humanity secure those strategic resources, then you will not only end up helping red humanity as a whole, but also our own clan. The Larkinsons are humans as well. Life for all of us will get a lot harder if the Upper Zones are lost."

That was a surprisingly deep and thoughtful answer from Tusa. It showed that he had put a lot of thought on his impending transfer to the Premier Branch.

He too preferred to fight alongside the more familiar Larkinsons serving in the expeditionary fleet.

Yet he also recognized that he could simply do more for everyone he cared about if he was promoted to a first-class ace pilot.

First-raters had always decided the course of human civilization. The Age of Dawn had changed this fundamental rule.

After a long time of struggle and risk-taking, the Larkinson Clan was finally ready to enter the first-class stage. That would be the moment where the clan finally became a major player in full.

Instead of relying on the mechers, fleeters and so on to keep the native aliens at bay, the Larkinsons could finally put their destiny in their own hands and become responsible for protecting their own future!

Casella could not possibly deny all of these arguments. She was too smart and her rationality had not disappeared.

It was exactly because of the strong logic behind these arguments that she felt so conflicted. Her sentiment towards the expeditionary fleet was too strong. To leave them during a time where the Red Tide Offensive would hit the second-raters hard felt like dereliction of duty!

"The rest of the Larkinsons serving in the expeditionary fleet are not weak." Ves tried to reassure her. "Sure, they can become a lot more powerful with you at the lead, but do you know what happens if you stomp on too many aliens while you make good use of your improved Command Field? The native aliens will just field a lot more phasefighters, warships and phase lords in order to compensate for your outsized boost. While our enemies are forced to make a much greater investment to compensate for your intervention, they have the assets and resources to do so. Your continued presence in the expeditionary fleet will just turn your troops into high-priority targets that the native aliens will love to eliminate first. Our soldiers can't withstand so much heat. You may end up doing more harm than good due to your high-profile performance."

Although the theory sounded a little dubious in certain parts, Ves' logic was not entirely crooked.

It was quite plausible for Casella to attract a huge amount of unwelcome attention from the Red Cabal.

Unlike the humans, the native aliens did not play by the same rules. The Red Cabal had no qualms about deploying their best assets in a middle zone as long as it was worthwhile enough!

"If… if I transfer to the Premier Branch… then another Larkinson must take my place." She slowly said. "In the absence of General Verle, there are no particularly strong senior commanders in the Larkinson Army that can preside over the Larkinson Army as a whole. The Living Sentinels also deserve to be commanded by a mech officer that stays close to them. It will take time to find replacements, and they may not be able to perform as well."

Ves smiled. "I am not too worried. Our clan is filled with professionals. I do not expect to have the best. As long as your replacements can do the jobs that are expected of them, then that is enough. Stability is needed above all else. Our forces in the expeditionary fleet will not be doing any better, but they shouldn't be doing much worse either. That is enough. You shouldn't coddle them all of the time. They need to have enough room to grow by themselves."

"Just like what General Ark has done for his Warborn?" Casella spitefully shot back.

The atmosphere in the cockpit of the Minerva sank after she spoke those words.

"Casella…" Tusa began.

"I hold General Ark responsible for letting my brother die." The female ace pilot said. "I still need to obtain the detailed logs and footage of his ill-conceived operation, but what I have heard so far already leads me to believe that Ark has taken our clan's motto too far due to his selfishness."

Ves did not want to have this particular conversation, but it appeared that he could not avoid it anymore.

"Casella…" He slowly said. "Mistakes have been made. I cannot deny that. However, mistakes always happen in warfare. Nobody can attain perfect results. Everyone is working with incomplete information and mistaken assumptions. You can fault General Ark's approach, but his underlying intentions are not necessarily wrong. Our clan gives every clansman an opportunity to attain greatness by letting them serve on the frontlines. Venerable Imon Ingvar chose to join the 77th Warborn Mech Division and serve under General Ark. If he was truly unwilling to follow the general's orders, then he could have put in a request to transfer to another unit. Our clan would have obliged him without any hesitation."

"What if Ark misled my brother? What if your uncle painted a false sense of security?"

"I don't think that General Ark is willing to stoop so low." Ves frowned. "I believe that he has always been honest and upfront about the risks that he is subjecting his Warborn to. There were multiple junctions where Venerable Imon was allowed to express his doubts or unwillingness, but he did not do any of that. Instead, he actively affirmed his support for General Ark's approach. Imon was eager to attain a quick breakthrough as well. The two are the same in this regard, which is one of the reasons why they clicked so well with each other."

Casella's expression sank further. "What are you trying to say, Ves?"

"Imon Ingvar knew the risks of what he was embarking on, but still proceeded anyway. In other words, he took a gamble… and lost. That is what it means to take risks. You win or you lose. Our clan would have made immense gains if Ark, Imon or any of the other expert pilots managed to break through and kick L'Koi's humongous butt. That didn't happen… and one of them had to pay the price as a consequence. This is terrible for you and the rest of us, but please do not shift all responsibility to General Ark. As imperfectly as he has handled this situation, he is not truly responsible for killing your brother. Imon… ultimately paid for his own overconfidence and misfortune."

"That is not true!" Casella denied! "At least not entirely! Maybe my brother has misjudged the risks, but it is General Ark that is responsible for painting an overly optimistic picture and overestimating his own ability to lead everyone to safety! Are you trying to cover for your own blood relative, sir?"

Ves crossed his arms. "Blood relations are irrelevant. I have always afforded equal treatment to trueblood and adopted Larkinsons. I wouldn't have worked so hard to recruit the latter into my clan if I was against their inclusion."

"But…"

"I know you are angry, Casella. You can't accept that your brother died because of his own foolhardiness. You so badly want to find a villain you can lash out against. That doesn't mean you are allowed to turn anyone you deem responsible into a scapegoat. Plenty of Larkinsons have died since you became in charge of the expeditionary fleet. Have you personally investigated their causes of death and pinned other clansmen as the culprits responsible for these outcomes? You did not. That is because dying is a fact of war, and that deaths on the battlefield does not necessarily have anything to do with crime and guilt. People die in war. It is L'Koi that you should be targeting. He is the only real culprit responsible for killing your brother."

Saint Tusa felt the need to pitch in as well.

"Casella, stop it. You are incapable of remaining impartial whenever your brother is involved. Take a step back and divorce yourself from your own emotions. If you do so, then you should know that Ves is right about this. General Ark is hardly my favorite uncle either, but nothing he has done has crossed the line as far as I can tell. Many times, soldiers die on the battlefield because they were too weak. Nothing more. Once they are at the wrong place and the wrong time, they die. Simple as that. There is no conspiracy. General Ark did not purposefully act against your brother. Once you investigate the situation for yourself and come to this conclusion, then I hope you don't try to take out your frustrations on Ark. My uncle is probably already beating himself up for letting Imon die in front of his eyes."

Rationally, Casella agreed with Ves and Tusa, but she felt completely differently on an emotional level!

No matter how blameless General Ark looked after the clan conducted an investigation, he would always be the chief party responsible for driving her brother to his death as far as she was concerned!

This could never change!