The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4724

Ves felt betrayed!

The expert pilots that he had painstakingly nurtured and showered with powerful expert mechs no longer wanted to help him out on his expeditions.

Instead, they thought about joining the Davute Branch so that they could fight the Karlachs in order to increase the profits of major investors of Davute like the Clive Consortium!

"These ungrateful bastards." He grumbled under his breath. "What are they thinking? At least you won't abandon me for another Larkinson, right Lucky?"

"Meow~"

It turned out that after Lucky had swept the room clear of bugs, he had slowly drifted over to Venerable Ark.

Right now, the lazy gem cat was luxuriating in the ministrations performed by the expert pilot!

The man knew just how to scratch Lucky's head!

Ves palmed his face.

"Your fleet has grown too big, Ves." Ark straightforwardly told his nephew. "Many mech pilots do not feel they can make a meaningful difference. This is especially the case when they are fighting against extremely powerful alien battleships. On top of that, they often get overshadowed by the abundant amount of expert mechs that are crowding the same battlefield. In turn, your expert pilots possess increasingly less agency with the appearance of Saints. With the impending expansion of the Golden Skull Alliance, your expeditionary fleet will gain two ace mechs at once."

"We will also be losing the Mars to this blasted war."

"That still leaves you with a net positive of two ace mechs, Ves. Most pioneering fleets already make do with just one, you know. What matters is that expert mechs matter less in your expeditionary fleet these days. Expert pilots can gain many more opportunities to test their mettle when they are fighting against their counterparts from Karlach."

Ves looked skeptical. "Won't the same situation repeat itself? If they join the mech division helmed by you and Patriarch Reginald Cross, they will still get overshadowed by the Mars."

"Not necessarily." Ark shook his head. "You do not have a full understanding on how large wars are waged at this level. Once the war breaks out, multiple war theaters will open up where the fighting will take place at many points in space and on land. Ace mechs such as the Mars cannot always babysit the mech division it is embedded in. Mech regiments and mech battalions may be separated by tens of kilometers or hundreds of kilometers on a planet with rough terrain. Isolated mech units and any expert mechs attached to them will have to depend on their own. Reinforcements may take precious minutes to arrive."

Ves could imagine how these sorts of deployments could give mech pilots more chances to excel. Low-level flashpoints and skirmishes often provided much better stages for weaker pilots to outfight their opponents and turn the tide.

"What about the ace mechs? Are they just going to hover around?"

"Many times, that is the case. They are trump cards and should not be thrown into a battle lightly. Ace mechs are generally used to cover a wide region and keep enemy ace mechs in check. They will only intervene when it is necessary and if there are assurances that they will not be thrown into a losing situation. As battle hungry as Reginald may be, even he should know the value of restraint. His father got baited into an ambush, so he should not be prone to making the same mistake."

Ves seriously doubted that. Reginald seemed a lot more likely to bull his way into an obvious trap! After all, President Yenames Clive had played him like fiddle!

Well, it was not as if Ves had to bother with this anymore.

Once Patriarch Reginald and his Mars left the expeditionary fleet, it was no longer up to Ves to clean up their messes. That would become Ark's job from that point onwards.

After a bit more clarification, Ves understood why certain mech pilots and expert pilots in the Larkinson Army wanted to throw themselves into the upcoming war.

It all came down to accelerating their growth and breaking past their bottlenecks. Davute promised to give them a higher frequency of actual battles, smaller and more engaging missions as well as familiar human opponents.

All of these factors were much more conducive to the growth of mech pilots that tended to thrive in times of war.

Expert pilots ultimately sought to become stronger. While they also valued loyalty and duty, they were not devoid of ego and selfishness.

In actuality, they could be more selfish than many ordinary people!

It was just that nobody could distinguish the truth when they were kept happy. It was only when they thought they could do better elsewhere that they started to become troublesome!

Ves realized that for a long time, he had done a good job at meeting the needs of his growing expert pilots. He granted them opportunities to fight serious battles on occasion and he also fulfilled their desire to obtain powerful expert mechs.

"Do you understand now, Ves?" Ark softly spoke up again. "If you truly care about your expert pilots, then you should give them the chance to contribute to the Larkinson Clan in a different manner. Let them choose their own way forward. Your main fleet already has enough expert mechs as it is, especially when we consider that you are working on adding three new expert mechs to your lineup. I think you can manage with four or five fewer expert mechs."

"You are asking for too much, uncle! You're talking about taking away more than half of the currently active expert mechs of the Larkinson Army!"

"Will your fleet be able to tell the difference when it is operating under the direct protection of the Jedda Sandivar and the Royal Jeem?"

"..."

The other expert pilots such as Venerable Rosa Orfan and Venerable Vincent Ricklin would probably feel much more at home in a battle against normal human mech forces.

Ves could already see that by recalling how much the expert pilots enjoyed themselves when they sparred against their counterparts during the Battle of Pima Prime.

The Sundered Phalanx units in that important Fridayman port system served as an excellent benchmark and growth engine for the Larkinson Army.

Though Ves still felt somewhat peeved at the thought of depriving the expeditionary fleet of lots of mech pilots, expert pilots and an ace pilot as well as their associated mechs, the ones he had left should be more than sufficient to defeat most threats that he might encounter in the frontier.

"Your clan has long maintained a policy of maintaining a surplus of mech pilots anyway." Ark pointed out. "Even if I take a couple of thousands pilots from your main ranks, your mech legions still have enough reservists on call to fill up the vacancies. At most, your Spirit of Bentheim and your Hammerworks Manufacturing Complex will have to get busy producing replacement mechs."

That hardly sounded like a problem considering that mech production was the Larkinson Clan's strong suit!

As Ves and Ark relaxed in each other's presence, the latter continued to pamper Lucky while the former asked a more personal question.

"Do you intend to use Davute as a way to fill the gap created by our forced departure from the Bright Republic?"

"...That is a good question, Ves." The expert pilot slowly replied. "I honestly cannot give you an answer yet. I need to see more of Davute and what its government is trying to build. I need to fight alongside its soldiers and observe how much they believe in the colonial state that they are risking their lives for. I need to wait and see whether the citizens develop a love and attachment to their new homes. It is anything but certain whether Davute can pass all of my tests."

"And what if it does?"

"Then I shall do my best to follow, no, exceed the example set by the Larkinson Ancestor."

Ves threw a dubious look at his uncle. "I hope that you will learn from his many mistakes. The man was strong in his own right at the time, but he and his descendents ultimately ended up getting used as glorified cannon fodder over many generations."

"I am not blind, and I know our family's history better than you do. I am not so naive, and there are enough people around us to warn us of any impropriety."

"You don't very concerned."

Venerable Ark grinned. "One of the lessons that I have learned over the years is that strength is the ultimate variable that determines the treatment that you receive. If I am able to fight hard enough and receive the powerful expert mech that you have promised, I am convinced that I will be able to undergo my second apotheosis. Once I become an ace pilot, Davute shall never misuse us. This I can guarantee!"