The Mech Touch

"I still mean it when I say that I don't want our clan to become anchored to a fixed location." Ves said. "Our main strength must always remain with the fleet in order to protect our core. What I am actually suggesting is giving our excess mech pilots something better to do by sending them out to different locations so that they can contribute to our clan in a more meaningful way. This can range from guarding a temporary mining operation to accepting low-risk guard missions from various parties."

General Verle quickly understood what Ves was trying to accomplish.

"As long as we have the means to produce enough mechs, this is an excellent way to relieve the pressure in the Larkinson Army! If we only send out our excess mech pilots on deployment, the maximum combat strength of our fleet will not be adversely affected. The only real disadvantage that we will incur is weakening our ability to bounce back after a heavy battle. It will become harder for us to replenish any lost mech pilots if we no longer have any reserves on hand."

This was a major downside that could severely affect the Larkinson Clan's chances of survival if it was ever forced to fight successive battles.

With the Spirit of Bentheim, it was relatively easy for the clan to replenish its lost mechs, especially if the Larkinsons were able to salvage their broken mechs from the battlefield.

It was a lot more difficult to replace any lost mech pilots, though. The Larkinson Mech Academy was far from operating at full capacity, so it would take a considerable time to reinforce the various mech legions with thousands of new recruits.

"We don't have to send away all of our spare mech pilots at once." Ves stated. "If we retain a level of around 20 percent or something, we will have sufficient depth should we ever enter a situation where we need to dip into our reserves. We can always recall any nearby Larkinson mech pilots on deployment if we need to replenish our losses more urgently."

Although all of this sounded viable, there were many different issues concerning this comprehensive change in strategy.

While General Verle obviously supported this change, he knew that it was not without its risks.

"The Red Ocean is dangerous. Though there are voices that have always opposed your plan to keep us all together, I can't deny that it has always kept us all safe. Are you truly willing to allow our clansmen on deployment to brave the dangers of the new frontier without the protection of our main fleet?"

"This is why we need to plan out this arrangement carefully." Ves replied. "For example, we should never allow our units to travel to different destinations by themselves. Their carrier vessels will just become easy prey to pioneers that eagerly want to get their hands on additional starships. We can either have them travel in larger convoys or merely drop them off at their destination directly from the main fleet."

"What of the risks to our smaller expeditionary forces, sir? Are you willing to allow them to brave dangers without the support of our expert mechs and our main forces?"

"That is why we need to think about their deployments carefully. The most obvious option is to build a base somewhere in a relatively safe port system like Davute and have them guard a manufacturing plant or something."

"That… is a decent option." General Verle said. "Guard duty will not provide much enrichment to our troops, though. The sort of mech pilots that we have recruited and trained are generally more ambitious and eager for battle than normal. Security duty is one of the most boring assignments a mech pilot can undertake. Guarding a relatively safe facility where the chances of getting attacked are low will definitely lead to an even greater degree of frustration than if we kept the mech pilots in our main fleet."

Ves sighed. The general was right. The Larkinson Clan's recruitment policies had brought in a lot of mech pilots that were quite suitable for his current strategy.

He just never envisioned the need to offload his spare mech pilots by sending them out on different assignments. Their inherent personalities, the way they were raised along with how the Larkinson martial culture emphasized proactivity meant that these Larkinson mech pilots needed to perform meaningful duties in order to feel fulfilled.

After all, ordinary mech pilots usually entered into active service for a number of decades. After that, the onset of age and accumulated injuries usually made it unviable for them to continue piloting mechs. Most of them had little choice but to give up the profession that they dedicated their lives to and retire.

All of this meant that mech pilots only had a limited window of time to make their legacies. They were unlike mech designers who were usually able to practice their profession until old age if they were accomplished enough.

There were a lot of mech pilots who did not wish to enter into different battlefields. To them, it was more than enough to guard facilities all day.

However, those kinds of risk-averse mech pilots were in short supply in the Larkinson Clan!

Even the Living Sentinels, who were the least enthusiastic about performing risky missions, wanted to fulfill more meaningful jobs in their lives.

"There should be numerous suitable assignments that our mech pilots can do in more exciting circumstances." Ves said. "One of the more obvious examples is helping pioneering organizations protect their initial colony settlements. The earliest periods of building a colony are always the most precarious ones. There are no base defenses and few resources and facilities on hand to defend it against attacks. This is where mercenaries come in. It is usually worth it to employ a mercenary outfit that can add hundreds if not thousands of additional mechs to the defense force."

General Verle frowned. "That is indeed true, but the mercenaries must choose their clients carefully. Some are more reckless than others and attract greater enemies. If the colony is ever attacked by an overwhelming threat, our lack of carrier vessels will mean that most of the mechs we have stationed at the colony will have to be abandoned. At most, our personnel will be able to evacuate on a lone passenger ship, but without any substantial mech escorts, the vessel will be extremely vulnerable to raids."

The leader of Larkinson Army raised these points not because he objected to Ves' plan, but because he wanted to make sure that the patriarch knew what he was getting into. From the moment the clan split up its troops, everyone had to take into account that not all of the outgoing clansmen would be returning home alive.

Ves frowned and thought about it. "It can't be helped. The most we can do is to select our assignments carefully. We should only accept missions from reputable parties. I'm sure the Mercenary Association has already set up branches in the Red Ocean. We can also accept missions from the MTA colonization board. Aside from that, we need to make sure that this is a voluntary choice. No one should be forced to go on an assignment that might subject them to dangers for months if not years."

This was a decent enough arrangement. General Verle relaxed.

"Those are good ideas, sir. If we want to ensure that there will be enough volunteers, we can promise additional rewards to them. If we do this right, we will not only be able to expand our presence in the new frontier, but also provide our mech pilots with more experiences. Right now, many of our pilots have little to no experience of fighting in a planetary environment."

The two discussed and fleshed out the tentative plan further. This was a major initiative, so it could not be implemented in a day. Ves merely wanted to convey a outline to Verle so that he could flesh it out and turn it into a reality with the help of his own staff.

General Verle's projection eventually stood up. "We need to make a lot of changes in order to get this ‘Expedition Hall' up and running. We also need to produce all of the mechs that are meant to go on these smaller expedition missions. None of that can be accomplished in the short term. It will take at least half a year to get this operation off the ground."

"I understand. I am not in a hurry, general. Just work out the plan and make all of the necessary preparations. In a year or two, I want our Expedition Hall to give thousands of idle mech pilots something better to do. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Ves dreamed of erecting an Expedition Hall that would manage and facilitate all outgoing missions. It would operate similar to a mercenary bureau where bored clansmen could look for excitement outside of the expeditionary fleet by accepting exotic new assignments.

Of course, the concept of this Expedition Hall made a lot more sense when the Larkinson Clan had grown larger and more expansive. Right now, it sounded a bit too extravagant, but Ves still found it worthwhile to start it up early.

As Ves thought about how the introduction of the Expeditionary Hall would change the Larkinson Clan, an alert suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

General Verle's projection quickly reappeared again. This time, he looked a lot more serious!

"What's the matter?" Ves questioned as he grew vigilant.

An alarm didn't activate without a good reason. Each one inevitably heralded a threat or an unforeseen situation.

"Our long-ranged sensors have just detected that numerous alien warships have entered this star system!"

"What!?" Ves almost jumped out of his seat! "How strong is this alien fleet?!"

"We are still determining that. The alien fleet is several light-hours away from our position, so it is difficult to obtain too many details in the first minutes. For now, we can say for certain that the ships are alien in nature. No human ship conforms to what we have detected on our long-ranged scanners. We can also rule out the possibility that they belong to the major alien races such as the nunsers and the puelmers. Given the initial energy emissions and other preliminary readings that we have made, it is highly likely that the unknown alien fleet hails from one of many minor alien races that are based in this approximate region."

Ves relaxed for a bit. The major alien races that had dominated the Red Ocean for so long were all the equivalent of first-raters at their best.

The minor races were much less fearsome in comparison. The Big Two already encountered thousands of them and there were undoubtedly many more that humanity had yet to encounter.

Even then, the overall strength levels of these minor races was incredibly diverse. Ves did not know whether the arriving alien fleet was stronger or weaker than his own fleet.

Ves grew uncertain. "What do you recommend?"

"We should raise our alert level and deploy extra patrols." The general immediately said. "Usually, the appearance of a hostile fleet that is several light-hours away should not pose an immediate threat to us, but alien superluminal travel technology works by different principles."

"Damn! Alien warp drives aren't constrained by gravity!" Ves realized. "They can close the distance to us even if they have to travel through the inner system. These alien ships may be warping to us while we are looking at outdated sensor readings!"

The expeditionary fleet quickly entered into a more active battle stance. A multitude of mechs poured out of the carriers while other workers prepared the various vessels for battle.

Even though the chance of getting attacked in the next few minutes was extremely low, the Golden Skull Alliance still had to put up its guard!