The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2780

2780 /7079

Chapter 2780 - Infantry Plans

Ever since the four Guard Masters along with a regular rotation of biomechs were stationed at Gentle Lotus Base, the Larkinsons became a lot more relieved of their situation.

They had already noticed that the amount of observers and strangers stationed in the remote district had decreased. While plenty of people and bots were still staring at the base, the Larkinsons purchased a large-scale interference field generator and activated it to block most sensors from getting a good look inside the base.

That stopped most watchers from getting anything useful. While it was still possible to overcome the wide-area interference field, the hardware required to do so would have to be very large, powerful and obvious.

Conducting deep scans on someone else’s property was not only highly suspicious, but also a crime in Prosperous Hill!

Still, Ves wasn’t satisfied with the security precautions. This was why he held a brief talk with Colonel Amos Pendulum of the Infinity Guards. _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

The latter’s projection looked apologetic at Ves. "We have continually tried to lobby the Planetary Guard to allow us to dispatch additional mechs to the surface, but the officials we talked to are far less accommodating than we expected. It is clear to us they are merely obeying instructions from high up. The good news is that no one else should be able to influence the Planetary Guard either."

"I see."

Ves felt as if he had inadvertently stepped into a cage for reason. He hated losing control of the situation. A part of him felt that he shouldn’t have descended from orbit to begin with! If he had insisted on staying aboard the Spirit of Bentheim, he would have never ended up in such a precarious situation!

Even though no one jumped out and attempted to launch an attack on him, Ves did not make the mistake of assuming that there was no threat. If he was wrong, then no harm was done. If he was right, then at least he’d be prepared!

Due to all of the limitations imposed by the local authorities, the Larkinson Clan only possessed a limited number of means to bolster Ves’ security detail.

One of those ways happened to be deploying more guards on foot.

A lot more armored guards were patrolling around Ves these days!

"We already formed plans to expand our infantry forces, but we’ve allocated more resources and personnel to accelerate the timeline." General Verle reported. "Don’t worry, sir. All of the guards that are assigned to your upgraded protection detail are all old-timers who have been with us from the early days. We have used the influx of recruits to cover other security assignments in order to free up the guards we can rely on the most."

Ves looked around and swept his gaze over the different guards. Each of them wore formidable suits of armor that were coated in the colors of the Battle Criers, The Avatars of Myth and so on. He noticed that his guards made use of brand new equipment.

"I see you’ve upgraded their arsenal as well."

"Correct. We face greater threats these days. We have invested a considerable sum of money to procure premium weapons and armor from the local markets. While there is a lot of bioequipment for sale on this planet, there are still plenty of foreign offerings that are easier to work with. Our hackers and armorers have already performed extensive examinations on each of the gear we purchased before we issued them to the guards assigned to your detail. None of them are tampered with. We even pulled out some components that are responsible for automating certain functions in order to rule out the possibility of any of the weapons acting out on their own."

Ves looked satisfied. "That’s a prudent precaution. I would have suggested the same. Out of curiosity, how many infantry soldiers can we field before the Planetary Guard gets pissed?"

"Unlimited."

"Really?"

The general smiled ruefully at him. "It doesn’t matter if someone fields 100 foot soldiers or 100,000 foot soldiers. A couple of mechs can easily slaughter them en masse."

That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was mostly true. In an open field, an argument could be made that 100,000 foot soldiers could easily down any mech by firing all of their rifles at the same time.

However, as long as the terrain was a bit more complex and if the mechs were already distant or behind cover, the huge machines possessed a decisive advantage!

There were good reasons why the Planetary Guard showed an abundance of caution against mechs but completely disregarded infantry-sized threats.

As long as they themselves were able to deploy as many mechs as they wished, not even a million foot soldiers would be able to destabilize a city!

"Of course, we’re not going to recruit, equip and field so many soldiers." General Verle shook his head. "We don’t need that many and we can’t exert effective control over so many new recruits. What we intend to do is to bolster our guard infantry ranks by at least several thousands heads. We are also looking into hiring specialized elites such as boarding specialists, aerial assault troops, urban combat troops and so on, but this is not the ideal star system to recruit these kinds of operators."

"It sounds like you are intended to implement a large overhaul of our infantry troops."

General Verle nodded. "To be honest, I am thinking about decoupling our infantry soldiers from our mech forces. While there are many benefits to lumping them together, the former will always be subordinate to the latter. If we want our infantry troops to feel valued, they need to be given the opportunity to stand on their own. What do you think, sir?"

This was a rather difficult question. There were pros and cons to both.

As far as Ves was concerned, the mechs and mech pilots of the Larkinson Clan were much more important than some simple guards. The most dangerous threats he faced always came from mechs. There was absolutely nothing that infantry soldiers could do during the Battle of Reckoning.