The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5245

Chapter 5245 Network Vulnerabilities

When Ves read over the document that detailed the plan to elevate the brave people who made serious contributions in the war against the native aliens, he gained a glimpse on how far the Survivalists were willing to go to upend the current order.

While the document redacted a lot of information outside Ves1 purview, he could read between the lines.

For whatever reason, the Fist of Defiance and his supporters understood the pros and cons of kinship networks quite well!

Despite all of the justified concerns about how extensively they could control and influence different people, the mechers went ahead and intended to turn kinship networks into a core component of the Deep Strike Plan anyway.

This indicated that the Fist of Defiance had very strong ideas on what was wrong about human society and that he wanted to correct them now that he obtained a strong mandate.

No god pilot was truly neutral. Each of them had fought a lot of battles and survived many confrontations where they could have died or lost their capital to progress any further.

The wars and conflicts of the past had filtered out a huge amount of mech pilots over the generations, leaving humanity with just around a hundred god pilots that had reached the finish line they always dreamt about.

All of these struggles defined and shaped their stances, their principles and convictions into a steely core that became a central part of their being!

It was rather frightening to realize that such a fanatic whose will could not be shaken by anything managed to gain the power he needed to create his 'ideal' society.

There was no way that the ideas of the Fist of Defiance made everyone happy. Just the hints and references about shifting power away from the established powers was sure to make a lot of old and established players unhappy!

Still, what could they do? The Fist of Defiance was a force unto himself. If he managed to gain the support of key stakeholders such as the Red Association and every other god pilot and Star Designer, then change became inevitable.

The need to gain the support of those stakeholders already forced the Fist of Defiance into making compromises and additions to his original plan.

The overall framework of the Deep Strike Plan would still remain intact, but there were plenty of ways to maneuver around its edges.

Ves recognized an opportunity to do the same. He felt honored that his solution could make a material contribution to the Deep Strike Plan. He did not want to disappoint the Fist of Defiance by impeding the god pilot's grand plan, but that did not stop him from seeking advantages whenever possible.

The selection and configuration of the kinship networks was probably his best opportunity yet to establish a lasting advantage in the new society!

If he could set up a number of them centered around the design spirits he had a close relationship with, he could massively expand his indirect influence over the new elites!

Unlike the case with Gaia who had immediately escaped his control, he still retained significantly greater sway over his older and more familiar spirits!

Even if his interactions with them had slowly transitioned from a superior-subordinate relationship to more equal partnerships, that did not change the fact that they would readily obey his instructions as long as he did not go too far!

As the inventor of kinship networks, Ves understood extremely well how advantageous it was to directly or indirectly control a kinship network.

He could effectively keep tabs on everyone, learn what people were concerned about, track their movements, receive advanced warning if they had any treachery in mind and more.

Somehow, he didn't think it would be that easy though. There had to be a reason why he was discussing this topic with the Xenotechnician, one of the oldest and more experienced Star Designers alive!

"We cannot employ too many kinship networks at once." The Xenotechnician shook his head. "The purpose of instituting the New Elites Program is to unite a large variety of leaders and soldiers together. There may be an argument to establish several different kinship networks that are more closely aligned with different cultures, but going too far will introduce too many new divisions. Let us approach this problem from a different angle. Which of your 'spirits' do you think is the most suited to guide our New Elites?"

That was a difficult question. Ves could put forth a lot of different names, but he eventually settled for the classic counterpart of the Solemn Guardian.

"I would have to put forth Zeigra, the Crown Cat. He used to be a lot more irrational, but his animalistic ferocity has been tempered by his long exposure to millions of human mech pilots. Nonetheless, his basic qualities are still preserved. Mech pilots also report that Zeigra's influence also bestows them with a better innate sense of detecting and exploiting weaknesses in metal structures. All in all, Zeigra's influence can inject a lot of courage and aggression to the warfighters who are being tasked with confronting a lot of different alien forces."

The Star Designer sitting on the other side of the desk adopted a thoughtful look. "We have made the same consideration. Not all of us are comfortable with the idea of subjecting our best and bravest soldiers to a source of aggression, but a narrow majority of us recognizes that it is better than the alternatives. We would deal with herding large populations of aggressive warfighters than to see them cower and shirk when they are deployed in battle under the most arduous circumstances. It is vital for the kinship network to suppress the psychological pressure of fighting so far away from friendly territory that there is nowhere to run to safety."

"I am sure that the Fist of Defiance will come to appreciate a kinship network managed by Zeigra. Warfighters don't necessarily need to be clever and rational when engaged in battle. Leave that up to the military commanders and the people in the rear. What they need is aggression and momentum. The more, the better. We are engaged in total war. Collateral damage and civilian casualties are no concern to us since we aren't fighting in our own territories anymore. In fact, the more outrageous our warfighters behave on the battlefield, the more the aliens will take our deep strike fleet seriously!" _{freewebnøvel.com}

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