The Mech Touch

The Sentinels lost 15 mechs in battle. Though all of them were still in salvageable condition and could be restored in working condition in a matter of weeks, the fact that the pirates managed to overwhelm them in the first place was a huge problem!

Commander Magdalena was livid. The Living Sentinels should have easily been able to wipe out Davy's Ghosts with their accumulated advantages. Yet the rookies had all shown that they were less prepared for battle than everyone thought!

Certainly, in a more normal battle, the rookies might have performed closer to standard. Under the command of Ves, Major Verle had deliberately stacked the deck against the rookies.

First, instead of dispatching three ordinary mech companies, he instead pulled out every rookie spread among the Living Sentinels and grouped them together.

The rookies had all trained alongside veterans and more experienced mech pilots. Now that they had been robbed of this pillar, they had no one reliable to turn to for guidance!

Second, Major Verle deliberately deprived the rookies from the supportive glows that they had been exposed to on a daily basis. They had to fight against the pirates without a single form of moral support!

It became clear that the rookies had become far too pampered by the glows. Their unexpected absence left them with little time to adjust, causing them to lose their composure to a greater degree than they should have.

These reasons and more all resulted in a fairly awful result. Major Verle had basically set up his own men!

As the person responsible for ordering Major Verle to screw over the rookies, Ves felt no remorse. He was always a believer in practical lessons, and there was no better way to drive a lesson home than to show the worst that could happen!

He didn't care whether the rookies shamed and dishonored themselves. Ves would rather humiliate his own men than to fawn over them and inflate their egos. Once they deployed in a serious battle, the failure they experienced today might take place with much more lives at stake!

The assistant mech designers that Ves had brought along this expedition all looked thoughtful and introspective. None of them experienced any actual battles up close. The most they knew about battle all came from viewing and studying archival footage during their student days.

As much as Ves resented the Bright Republic for its insistence of drafting as many low-ranking mech designers to the frontlines as possible, he was grateful for the harsh lessons he learned back then. The Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens had allowed him to acquire a much more comprehensive use of mechs and the difference that mech pilots could make.

Now, he hoped that all of his assistants learned some of the same lessons that he did in this practical demonstration.

"This is true mech combat." He told them. "They are never as clean or standard as the battle footage that you have seen before. The truth is that many of your teachers have never experienced a mech battle up close. When they select which footage to show to you, they are often affected by selection bias. They do not always understand the importance of the human element either."

This couldn't be helped. Ordinary mech designers had no place on the battlefield. The more talented and capable they became, the more they stayed away from battle.

As a result, a disproportionate amount of successful mech designers had never experienced any serious danger in their long lives. They always spent their time on stable planets and designed their mechs in well-guarded compounds.

Many of the academics and the theorists in the mech industry developed fantastic innovations and made amazing achievements. Yet when it came to understanding the messiness of actual battle, they were far inferior to the mech pilots they supposedly served!

Fortunately, not every mech designer possessed this shortcoming. Mastery experiences that allowed mech designers to relive the experiences of veteran mech pilots allowed the former to experience the complicated nature of battle at minimal risk.

In addition, a mech designer could always hire consultants or advisors who had lived through many battles. As long as the mech designer sincerely listened to the words of wisdom of various veterans, their mech designs would doubtlessly be better adapted to a chaotic battlefield!

Though Ves could have relied on these alternate methods to wisen up his assistants, he decided to aim for a practical demonstration.

Not just his assistants, but the rest of the Task Force Predator also learned their lessons!

Just because they were part of the Larkinson Clan didn't mean they were invincible! Compared to their counterparts from other third-rate states, the circumstances of the Larkinson mech pilots were numerous times better. Their mechs were all excellent compared to the machines fielded by regular outfits.

This was something that Ves had always dreamed of. He wanted to invest in a strong, loyal mech force that could help him survive the challenges to come.

Yet Ves knew that all of that building up was partially meaningless if the rapid expansion in strength remained untested.

The outcome of the battle against Davy's ghosts only confirmed his suspicions.

His clan had grown too rapidly. If the mech pilots that engaged the pirates all consisted of trueblood Larkinsons, they would have never exhibited so many mistakes!

Cleaning up the aftermath of the battle only took a few hours.

The exhausted Living Giants expressed a bit of wariness towards the Larkinson Clan until they finally verified their rescuers weren't pirates themselves!

Commander Ulbert Rilven wanted to speak to Ves in person to express his gratitude, but the clan patriarch didn't bother himself with this trivial chore. Major Verle took over in his stead.

Instead, Ves decided to pay a visit to the crestfallen Living Sentinels. He boarded a shuttle with Lucky which quickly reached one of the light carriers of the Living Sentinels.

The hangar bay descended into silence as every rookie that participated in the battle had gathered together. Commander Magdalena Larkinson adopted a stony expression as she conveyed her disappointment in her men without speaking any words.

When Ves finally appeared, she saluted him. "My apologies, clan patriarch. My Living Sentinels have failed your test."

He dismissively waved his hand. "Tests are meant to push limits. Sometimes those limits break. That is not an inherently bad outcome. What is more important is to learn the right lessons from them and make sure the same outcome doesn't happen again."

"Oh, I promise you, sir, I will not allow any of my Sentinels to enter into battle unprepared again!"

The Sentinel Commander harbored no grudge against Ves for masterminding this test. She understood as well as Ves and Major Verle that the Living Sentinels needed this wakeup call.

After exchanging a few more words with Commander Magdalena, Ves finally turned his attention to the rows of dejected rookies.

They had already been subjected to a lot of jeers and looks of disappointment from their fellow clansmen. The near-disaster still haunted their minds. If they had screwed up just a little bit worse, then some of their colleagues wouldn't be alive at this time!

Such a realization hit the inexperienced rookies particularly hard. Without any veterans to mentor them through their first real battle experience, their imaginations were already running wild.

Ves didn't worry too much about their mental states. The Larkinsons possessed institutional awareness of the importance of managing the mental health of their mech pilots.

He still felt like giving a speech, though.

"Mech pilots of the Living Sentinels. I know it hurts to disappoint everyone's expectations. You must be feeling pretty sorry for yourselves, correct?"

Not every glum mech pilot nodded, but their overall mood was plain to see to him. Hardly anyone was satisfied with their performance today!

"Though you have much cause to feel disappointed in yourselves, I think you should be happy instead."

That caused half of the 120 rookies to become startled.

"Each battle begins with mech pilots like you entering the fray. Not everyone gets to leave with their lives intact at the end. Be grateful that you have managed to defeat over 300 deadly pirate mechs without suffering any loss of life."

Certainly, the rookies managed to lose fifteen mechs, but as callous as that sounded to someone who considered them to be alive, Ves would rather lose a bunch of mechs than a single Larkinson mech pilot!

Mechs were built for a specific purpose. Though Ves wanted as many of them to survive as long as possible, it was inevitable for them to make the ultimate sacrifice. Ves did not feel sad about that. As long as the mechs received enough opportunity to fulfill the purpose that they had been created for, then they hadn't existed in vain!

Ves did not feel like employing any spiritual trickery today. He continued to address his Living Sentinels with plain words.

"I am sure that you have all realized the point of this battle. To be honest, I expected you to fail. I already took that into account. It isn't your job to feel disappointed at yourselves. That is something that is reserved for your bosses. Hopefully, they will learn sufficiently from this battle and revise your training. Trust in them. They want you to succeed as much as you do. The clan will always have your back."

A bit of warmth swelled in their hearts. They all expected Ves to express anger or disappoint. Why shouldn't he? His trained soldiers, which had taken up a lot of money to train to their current standard, fought worse than the pirates they confronted!

Yet not a single signal that Ves transmitted to his soldiers contained any negativity.

This gesture mattered. It was in their darker times that defeated soldiers needed a helping hand the most.

Their loyalty to him in person, which had already been high, rose to further heights!

The rookies no longer dwelled on their mistakes that much. Instead of looking back to the past, they instead started to look to the future.

A hint of determination swelled in their hearts.

They would definitely do better next time! There was no way they were going to disappoint everyone's expectations twice!

Both Ves and Commander Magdalena shared a quick glance.

Ves accomplished the goal he set to achieve. Not only did he set their minds a little straight, he also deepened their loyalty to him and the clan!

As for Commander Magdalena, she continued to maintain a stern expression. Though the rookies needed to be handled with care, they were still warriors and soldiers. Their job was to pilot a mech in battle, not to be pampered all day.

If participating in an actual battle was too much for mech pilots to cope, then the Living Sentinels would be better off forcing them into retirement.

After he finished his speech, Commander Magdalena dismissed the rookies. They would all be sent back to their assigned carriers and receive the care and instruction of their original units.

"The battle came very close to killing some of our men." She told him. "I have to thank the Avatars for protecting our ejected cockpits against enemy fire. If you don't mind, would you have felt any remorse if we lost any lives?"

"No." Ves honestly replied. "I would have been happier instead. An actual disaster drives the point home a lot more effectively than a near miss."

Though the Sentinel Commander obviously didn't like his answer, she understood his rationale, as cold and ruthless as it sounded.

The sentiment was common in the Mech Corps, where incompetence wasn't tolerated. The Mech Corps was already weaker than the Mech Legion. The Brighters always had to fight harder than the Vesians in order to defend their state!

"How far do you intend to push us, sir?" She asked.

"I expect to come out of the Nyxian Gap with a solid core that will form the basis of my future mech army." Ves replied. "No matter how many flaws and impurities I need to hammer out, as long as the refined product is strong enough, I am prepared to pay almost any price!"