The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3669

Chapter 3669 A New Hall

"It's not what you think, general. I'm not starting a new colony."

"Oh. I thought…"

"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."

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify