The Mech Touch

After holding lots of talks with his advisors and subordinates, Ves eventually made a decision.

He accepted the Evolution Witch's offer.

"Against my better judgment, I have decided to put my trust in the Evolution Witch and put Saint Isobel Kotin in her direct care." Ves announced to Professor Vector Loban after he called him into his office within the Tarrasque.

The Transhumanist liaison smiled in response. "You have made the right decision. Given your history with our leader, I am not unsympathetic towards your lack of trust towards her. However, I can assure you that we are all working for the same cause. Red humanity must survive. Her Divinity has been working tirelessly to uplift red humanity and increase our advantages so that we may stand a chance in the current war. Saint Isobel Kotin is an unquestionable asset in our fight against the native alien menace. Strong offensive specialists are especially in high demand. Alien phase leaders rely heavily on their formidable bulk and defenses to withstand repeated attacks, allowing them to survive normal killing blows and enabling them to come back again and again."

As a mech designer who kept up with the developments at the frontlines, Ves understood what Vector meant. Phase lords may not be as outstanding as high-ranking mech pilots at roughly the same level, but they all excelled in saving their own lives.

No matter whether they were martial or erudite, all alien phase lords required a huge amount of effort to kill.

If they got in trouble and believed that there was a good chance that they might die, they never behaved like brave and battle-hungry ace pilots and persisted on the battlefield in the hopes of surpassing their limitations.

Cowardice was not necessarily a sin to phase lords! The aliens abided by a different culture where it was more permissible for their gods to run from the battlefield. Their brainwashed worshipers would even put their own bodies in the path of their enemies just to give their craven gods a better chance of making it out alive!

All of these factors meant that it was always an uphill battle to contain and eventually take the life of a phase lord who was determined not to stand his ground.

After going over these truths, Ves gained a much better appreciation of Saint Isobel Kotin's value.

She held great promise in the Red War. Back when she was an expert pilot, she already possessed the capacity to burn down huge alien warships left and right. She often had to constrain her deadly purple flames because nobody wanted to be left with worthless burned husks as salvage.

Now that she had become an ace pilot, she finally gained the power necessary to burn down phase lords with her persistent and awfully sticky purple flames.

By leveraging the amazing complementary fire abilities of her companion spirit Kiroshi, Ves even had a hunch that she was capable of burning lesser phase lords to death right away!

How could any group not adore such an amazing offensive asset?

Red humanity was currently stuck in a defensive posture. Everyone's efforts primarily focused on holding ground instead of trying to slay as many alien champions as possible.

This was a problem, because the Red Cabal and the races that answered its call were not short of manpower and war assets!

The native aliens kept throwing phasefighters, warships and the poor aliens that crewed them like they would never run out of cannon fodder!

While there was a limit to how far they could go with their attrition warfare, their phase leaders ensured that no alien dared to disobey the instructions of their 'gods'.

The alien hierarchy was too strong. Any fleet led by a phase lords was characterized by absolute obedience and absolute suppression of fear.

It was nearly impossible to break enemy morale under those conditions.

If the native alien forces assaulting human defensive positions withdrew, it was because their gods issued the command to do so in order to preserve whatever combat power was left.

What mattered was that the native gods anchored the fighting spirit of the native alien forces.

Few aliens were suicidal enough to repeatedly throw themselves against the desperate but determined human defenders, knowing that many of them would get wiped out by the end of the day.

Yet because of a combination of religious fanaticism and ingrained institutional obedience, the native aliens willingly allowed themselves to be driven to their deaths just because their 'gods' expected them to obey!

The way the phase leaders had indoctrinated their population to serve them on an unconditional basis sounded completely reprehensible to Ves.

While the setup certainly sounded incredibly strong and inconvenient when everything was working correctly, it had one glaring weakness that could cause everything to collapse at once.

As long as the phase lords leading the alien fleets died, the remaining phasefighters and warships lost a lot of cohesion!

The faith of many aliens would collapse!

After losing their divine mandate, none of the remaining alien commanders possessed the capacity to command the confused and panicking alien soldiers.

The sooner the alien phase lords got taken out, the fewer humans would die due to withstanding the determined assaults of alien forces.

Saint Isobel Kotin therefore became a prime asset for both the Larkinson Clan and any other force that could command her loyalty.

Could Ves truly bring himself to move Isobel out of the control of his own clan and put her in the care of a superorganization with a history of poaching high-value mech pilots?

He had no choice.

From the moment he started to think about what was best for Saint Isobel Kotin and human society as a whole, only one answer was acceptable.

Ves needed to let go of his selfishness and accept the opportunity to restore Isobel Kotin to her prime in advance.

5 years was way too long of a recovery time.

As capable as the Larkinson Biotech Institute had become in the past few years, its restoration capabilities paled in comparison to the Evolution Witch and the Red Association!

Even though Ves had made a decision, he still wanted a few assurances.

"Before I pass Saint Isobel Kotin to the Evolution Witch's care, I would first like her to sign a written contract or at least give me a verbal promise." Ves insisted. "Don't worry, I have no intentions of binding her with excessive demands or having her fall into a trap. I just want her to make one single promise."

"And that is…?"

"The Evolution Witch much respect Saint Isobel Kotin's whenever possible." Ves said. "It is currently not possible to ask what she wants because she is currently comatose, but once she recovers to the point where she can adequate think for herself and communicate her demands, Her Divinity must hear Isobel out and respect her opinion. This is what the ace pilot deserves. In no way should anyone attempt to railroad her into pursuing a path that is not of her own choosing. If your leader cannot bring herself to make this simple but essential promise, then I would rather leave the injured ace pilot under our own care."

"I shall pass that on through the right channels. I personally see no issue with your reasonable request. If the Evolution Witch can still be reached, she should be able to give you an answer within a day or two." Vector said.

"Good. I hope I am not wrong about you. Don't use bureaucracy and stuff as an excuse to avoid an answer. I don't believe the Evolution Witch is busy to the point of becoming unreachable."

Now that they had handled this important issue, the two Senior Mech Designers began to talk about other topics.

"You have already started to work on your next Carmine mech design project, but there are clear indications that it is not meant for the mech market of the Red Ocean."

"That's right." Ves frankly admitted. "For the record, I am not designing it on my own initiative. I am working on it on commission from the Oblivion Gate Consortium. If you want more answers, go talk to the organization that is able to span two galaxies due to its possession of the Oblivion Gates. I don't dare to refuse this commission. The first batch of Carmine mechs designed for the Milky Way play a vital role in the plan of the new consortium."

A mech designer as clever as Vector Loban must have been able to deduce the ill intent and the unpleasant implications of this Carmine mech design project.

It did not seem like it, but the Transhumanist Faction had made a lot of targeted preparations in the past half year to maintain stability.

It took a lot of clever planning and extensive preparations just to prevent human society from spinning out of control after learning about the Carmine System!

What would happen if the MTA of the much larger and more densely populated Milky Way got completely caught off-guard by a revolutionary series of mechs that enabled every norm to become a mech pilot?

Human society would completely upend itself overnight!

Despite the many awful implications of the Rule Breaker Project, Professor Vector Loban clearly knew that it was not his business to meddle in this problematic affair.

He schooled his expression and smoothly shifted the topic.

"Do you have time to fit another Carmine mech design project in your schedule? It is time for you to think about meeting the demand of the upper end of the mech market."

He was right. Ves had been neglecting this important issue.

"I am not sure whether my schedule can permit me to split my time on another project, but I will see what I can do." Ves shared his preliminary thoughts on their new project. "I don't have too many substantive thoughts on what we should design at the moment. I think we should think about designing a humanoid modular mech platform similar to the Bright Warrior Mark III, but that sounds too generic. I am aware that the early Carmine mech designs don't necessarily have to be too excellent or optimal. It is better to aim for a versatile and broad set of base models that offer a lot of room for customization and upgrades. Still, I don't want to settle for such a passionless idea."

Vector frowned at that. "I can understand your need to design a mech that meets the inflated expectations of your potential customers, but you do not need to start a revolution with every new product. It is completely acceptable for you to seek stability and release a serviceable but not particularly excellent mech model. You cannot delay your work just because you are not feeling inspired enough to innovate in your next mech design project."

"I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I still think it is a waste to rush this project when I can do better with the right inspiration. Don't dismiss the importance of this condition. Give me a little time. If I don't manage to get fired up, I suppose I can force myself to work on this essential project."

"Do not take too long. The more weeks pass by without meeting the demands of the more well-off individuals, the more pressure we will have to bear. On the other hand, catering to their demand will earn you their universal gratitude. You should be able to understand how many doors you can open by fulfilling the dreams of many powerful but jaded individuals."

That was reason enough for Ves to hurry with this project. Acquiring the goodwill of so many powerful leaders should help all of his future endeavors!

"However my upcoming Carmine mech for this market will turn out, I will definitely add a Biodome to the design. I will need you and Lady Romanda's help to ensure the Carmine mech pilot will be able to survive the worst and retain his piloting qualifications. I don't want a cheap barely acceptable version this time. I want the premium stuff, so if you aren't doing anything important, you can start your work in advance by figuring out how to build a much tougher and more damage resistant Biodome."

"Good idea, Ves. I shall explore this demand in my own time."