The Mech Touch

The red airfleet carefully hovered over the ruined site where over a hundred biomech wrecks were sprawled across an area spanning several kilometers.

Most of the remains of the green-coated biomechs were concentrated on an open road. The most conspicuous among them were the fifteen ruined heavy artillery mechs. Each of them bore a copious amount of stab wounds on the surface that had all been dyed with insectile blood.

Almost everyone riding aboard the vehicles or piloting one of the mechs on protection duty observed the aftermath of the slaughter.

Only a handful of the fallen mechs consisted of red-coated Larkinson biomechs. They succumbed after trying to hold back a superior number of hostile biomechs that tried their best to run away from the Piranha Prime!

Though powerful and fast, it was beyond the ability of the Piranha Prime to hunt down lots of fleeing biomechs if all of them scattered in many different directions.

In order to ensure that the ultralifers suffered much greater losses than the Larkinson Clan, the reinforcements that followed after the Piranha Prime had done their best to contain as many fleeing enemies as possible.

Though there was a decent amount of risk of flying over a wreckage field while knowing that the ultralifers could return at any time, Ves chose to do so because he felt it was necessary.

"Do you see what has become of our enemies?" He addressed his clansmen in a confident but also solemn tone. "Witness the fate of those who dare to attack our brothers and sisters. Just one of our expert pilots is enough to crush this formation. The enemy mech pilots barely lasted a couple of minutes before they lost their demeanor as warriors."

The command center broadcasted hastily-edited footage of the short battle that ensued. The Larkinsons all became fascinated by how domineering the Piranha Prime dismantled the enemy artillery mechs while weaving through many other hostile mechs!

"Don't fear our enemies. Even if they are strong, we are stronger. Just look at their reaction! After learning first-hand that attacking Larkinsons comes with a price, their courage fell short. After giving in to their selfishness, they abandoned their mission and only sought to save their lives. The craven mech pilots even ejected prematurely from their biomechs in order to get out of our reach! Now tell me, do we have anything to fear from these bullies?"

"No!" The Larkinsons in the airfleet roared!

"I wish I could strangle them myself!"

"Our expert pilots are invincible!"

Ves carefully observed the reactions of the Larkinsons stationed in the command center.

They not only felt satisfied at the fact that their force managed to crush the enemy artillery unit, but also tried to hide their shame at their initial reactions.

Many of the Larkinsons who recently joined the clan had never lived through an event like this. Their primary reasons for joining the growing airfleet was to seek safety in numbers. The Larkinsons implicitly promised to protect the lives of everyone who sought refuge here. This unspoken contract came under significant strain now that the airfleet lost numerous biovehicles.

Out of the thousands of people in the airfleet, hundreds of them had perished from the unprovoked bombardment!

This was a trivial loss in relative terms but a heavy loss in absolute terms. The confidence of the newly-recruited Larkinsons had grown shaky in the span of a single hour.

Ves immediately recognized the threat to the continued existence of his powerful airfleet!

This was why he immediately set aside every other matter in order to hold a speech that would hopefully restore everyone's morale.

He knew that he had to project an image of strength at this time. He and his fellow Larkinsons should not be seen as helpless and incapable of defending their fellow clansmen!

Fortunately, the audience was receptive to his ploy. They became more and more engrossed by his narrative as he continued speaking.

"We have crawled up from adversity and shed blood in order to earn our success. We have lost many lives and mechs, but we have gained much more in return. Our clan is not a pacifist organization. In this dangerous cosmos, we can only rely on ourselves to maintain our existence. This grievous attack sought to break us. It did the opposite. Do not let the ultralifers have their way. This attack won't go unanswered. This I promise. I will not rest until we have punished the people responsible for killing our fellow clansmen!"

"Kill the ultralifers!"

"We need to track them down and destroy their base!"

"Are we making the right decision!"

A lot of clansmen were eager to take revenge, but there were numerous Larkinsons who possessed a more sober mind.

It was not wise to attack the ultralifers. Ves was well aware of the shortcomings of his current force. Their airfleet was constantly vulnerable and needed continuous protection. Their biomechs were too heterogeneous. Their mech pilots were lacking in training and coordination.

However, the most important shortcoming that Ves had recognized in his band was the lack of fighting spirit.

The esprit de corps that Ves had long grown accustomed to in his expeditionary fleet was entirely absent here. The small number of veteran Larkinsons that Ves had initially brought were the only ones who maintained the sense of pride and confidence that Ves had painstakingly fostered over the years.

If the new recruits were surrounded by his regular Larkinsons, then the former would quickly take after the latter through passive osmosis.

However, because the former Lifers didn't know anything better, their development in this aspect was too rudimentary!

This was a problem, especially when they were still stuck on a planet filled with hostile forces. Ves decided to take matters into his own hands.

If his new recruits all lacked a fighting spirit, then he would ram it down their throats!

He snarled. "The utralifers are completely ignorant to the fact that they have provoked a dragon. No matter how many times they outnumber us, we will not back off from making them bleed ten times as much as we did! Our scout mechs are already backtracking the route of the artillery unit we have defeated. We'll be able to uncover their hideout sooner or later. Once we have collected enough intelligence on our adversaries, we will storm their gates and overrun their biomechs with the strength of our righteous fury!"

"For the clan!" Commander Casella Ingar cried!

"FOR THE CLAN!"

"FOR THE CLAN!"

Ves ended the broadcast at this high note. He sensed that he had sufficiently aroused the fighting intent of his clansmen. For now, they were not thinking about acting selfishly or splitting off from the airfleet. While Goldie was strong enough to make these people reconsider such decisions, he did not wish to rely on this unnatural safeguard, especially when it already exhibited some flaws.

He exited the command center and entered a small meeting room with his fellow commanders.

Now that they were out of view, Commander Casella and Commander Rivington dropped their enthusiastic facade.

As the people in charge of leading the Larkinsons in the airfleet, they were much more aware of their actual condition. They were also cognizant of how this aggressive approach could go wrong.

Casella was most upset about Ves' response to the attack. "Did you really have to push us into this confrontation, sir? I won't argue with you that the ultralifers pose a threat to us. However, do you realize that we are on their home ground? From what my sources have told me, the ultralifers may be a fringe group, but they still enjoyed a lot of support over the years. They have a long foundation in Prosperous Hill VI and will certainly be able to field a lot of biomechs. If they are as strong as I think, then defeating them is either impossible or extremely costly. We've already lost a painful number of Larkinsons. Please don't exacerbate our losses by seeking conflict against a stronger opponent."

She made some good points. Though she was just as pissed with the ultralifers as Ves, she did not feel it was worth the risk of attacking the ultralifers.

He did not respond to her points. "What do you think, Commander Rivington?"

"Weren't you targeting the paramilitaries? They're still occupying the warehouse complex that you have been eying all of this time. Why are you turning your attention to one of their enemies? If we attack the ultralifers, we not only incur a lot of losses, but also fail to attain any strategic goals. In contrast, the paramilitaries can just sit back and watch as we do their dirty work! In the end, we'll weaken ourselves while ridding the warehouse occupants of a significant threat!"

That was a more important counterpoint to Ves. "You're not wrong, commander. Attacking the ultralifers will indeed reduce our chances of taking over the warehouse complex. I still believe my course is correct. Right now, I'm not thinking about accessing a hidden pinnacle lab or obtaining any high-grade life-prolonging treatment serums. I'm thinking about keeping our men together. Remaining passive and running away from this awful attack will have a devastating effect on the confidence and morale of our fellow Larkinsons. What do you think will happen if we are confronted by another unprovoked attack?"

Both Casella and Rivington looked dour. They might not fully understand his considerations, but they were still experienced enough in leadership to know that Ves was rightfully worried about this problem!

"I don't think the consequences will be as awful as you say, sir." Casella softly said. "I agree with you that stepping back from a provocation will depress the confidence of our men, but I am sure that we can still keep our clansmen together. Going on the attack can easily lead to much greater losses! Death is permanent. It's not worth the risks of attacking an unknown enemy force. Not when we are lacking in too many capabilities. Our lackluster intelligence capabilities mean that it is very difficult to figure out anything critical about the ultralifers. We'll be going in blind if you insist on launching a reckless assault!"

Ves slightly winced. Without Calabast and many of her Black Cats, the Larkinsons had precious little spies and informers on the ground. While they had plenty of former Lifers in their ranks who were related or acquainted with those who possessed useful information, there was a limit to how much they could learn, especially when communication has deteriorated on this planet!

Still, he had a number of other ideas in store to compensate for this lacking capabilities. He also wasn't resigned to letting Lucky claim more sick days!

"I haven't lost my reasoning, commanders. I won't attack unless I am reasonably certain that the deck is stacked in our favor. We can work on the issues you've mentioned. What we can't do is sit still or turn back. We have to keep moving forward. We have to signal to every Larkinson that we are warriors, not cowards!"

Try as he might, the two mech commanders still harbored a lot of misgivings about the direction that Ves had chosen.

In fact, he felt rather helpless about his current predicament. He needed to show bold leadership and turning his ire towards the paramilitaries made no sense. The only legitimate group that he could justifiably attack was the ultralifers!

Even if attacking them was fraught with peril and did not advance any greater strategic purpose, his concerns about the airfleet's morale along with his personal hatred against the ultralifers was enough for him to settle on this choice!

The damned radicals had punched his face over and over again. Did they think the Larkinson Clan consisted of herbivores? No! The Clan of the Golden Cat might not have chosen the most impressive animal as its mascot, but every kitty had claws!

"I have already made my decision, fellows." He told his commanders. "Don't try to persuade me any further. Instead, work with me to ensure that this operation will go as painlessly as possible. Don't worry. I'm not stupid. If the ultralifers are too strong, we'll take our revenge in other ways."