The Mech Touch

　　The result of this was that the established power blocs were still in the build-up process. While they already claimed their own patches of turf, as long as they began to expand their territory, they would eventually bump into each other!

　　"Back in the old galaxy, the colonization of a star sector usually proceeds in distinct phases." Commander Chancy explained to Ves. "Think about the history of the Komodo Star Sector. I can't tell you how many colony fleets descended upon it, but it must have been thousands. All of them struggled against each other. If they did not fight in order to claim the best planets, they always fought to expand their territory the most. Competition also took place in other fronts such as the monopolization of scarce exotics or trying to gain a stranglehold over trade. What happened before will happen again. The difference is that the players are much more powerful this time because the colonists aren't simply exiles and desperados this time. The pioneers who have managed to enter the Red Ocean are of a much higher caliber."

　　She was right. Ves recalled that the Hexadric Hegemony essentially won the scramble for the richest and most prosperous territories in the Komodo Star Sector. If not for the fact that the most powerful surviving competitors banded together to stop the Hexer from expanding further, the star sector would have definitely been dominated by the hateful women!

　　Ves didn't think about it, but the Krakatoa Middle Zone as well as other zones would probably feature the same kind of conflict!

　　Even though everyone in this zone was technically a part of the Red Ocean Union, that was too loose of a bond for pioneers to make way for each other. Unless the Terrans and Rubarthans tried to encroach on their territory, it was unlikely for all of these loose pioneers to form a united front!

　　Ves pressed his fingers against his forehead. "I can foresee the trouble this brings, but we don't have a stake in the local conflicts. One of the reasons why I am insistent on keeping our clan in a fleet is because we can just leave whenever the temperature gets too hot."

　　"What if the entire Red Ocean heats up?" The Penitent Sister pressed. "What if there is no room for unaligned fleets? Look. I've read your history. You have a phobia against betrayal, so you try to avoid putting yourself in situations where others can stab you in the back once again. If you keep doing this, I'm afraid we might end up in a situation where we are all alone and surrounded by hostile or uncaring cliques. Sure, you might not get stabbed in the back by those you consider friends, but you'll just get cornered and hacked to pieces from all sides."

　　Ves did not like what he heard. He glanced suspiciously at Commander Chancy. "What a lovely analogy. I did not take you for a deep thinker."

　　The Penitent Sister Commander shrugged. "I am a mech officer and a leader of a growing mech legion. Give me some credit, sir. I am constantly concerned about the safety of our clan but especially my fellow sisters. While I am not privy to all of your high-level decision-making, I hope you are accounting for the gradual onset of war and conflict in Krakatoa. The aliens are a greater threat at the moment, but sooner or later most of them will be driven out as is the case in Magair. That is when the competing pioneering alliances will truly begin to come to blows!"

　　As much as Ves didn't want to admit it, she probably had a good point. The Red Ocean was large and not a lot of pioneering fleets had passed through the beyonder gate at this time.

　　However, the ones who got in early usually possessed an abundance of strength, wealth and ambition. They hoped to replicate or exceed the success of their predecessors and carve out their own empires in the Red Ocean!

　　With so many megalomaniacal leaders in charge, there was no way the zones would remain peaceful. Those aspiring to found the next New Rubarth Empire would not be soft or merciful towards their direct competitors!

　　Though it was true that Ves and the Larkinson Clan did not want to get involved in these colonial turf wars, merely roaming around in conflict zones already represented a considerable danger!

　　Ves slumped a bit. "Maybe you have a point. I don't like it, but if we keep roaming around in the Krakatoa Middle Zone, there is a significant risk that certain powers will view us as a threat even if we try our best to claim that we are unaligned."

　　Powerful people who constantly spent their time worrying or plotting against enemies were prone to inventing them where none existed!

　　"Meow meow." Lucky gave his own opinion on the matter.

　　Ves looked suspiciously at Commander Chancy. "You mentioned this for a reason. You probably have an idea on what we should do. Spit it out. What is your recommendation?"

　　"I… do not have confidence that we are able to remain neutral. Not only will we be closed off to every local power block, we are also liable to turn into their punching bags for whatever reason. Rather than leave us vulnerable to predation from every angle, I think it is better to pick a side. This way, we will not only gain shelter, but also make it clear who our enemies are. We need this clarity."

　　Her message was loud and clear. Instead of trying to stand in the middle and try to defend against attacks from all sides, she thought it was better to put their backs against the wall so that they would not have to defend against attacks from the rear!

　　Though Ves agreed her logic was sound, the problem was that it conflicted with his goals!

　　"I'm not in a hurry to commit to a side." He told her. "If we aren't making progress, I am open to changing my mind. Until then, let's try it my way first. There is still a possibility that we'll be able to slip through the cracks and remain unaligned."

　　That was a faint hope, but one that Ves wasn't willing to give up. He continued to think about the matter long after Commander Chancy bid goodbye to him and left his office.

　　"If I have to pick a side… I'll have to choose well." He murmured. "There has to be other powers out there that aren't involved in any low-level conflicts."

　　Perhaps it might be best if he sought out the local community of Survivalists in the Davute System. There were associates in every major power center in the Red Ocean

　　Time continued to pass as the Golden Skull Alliance neared the Davute System. The expeditionary fleet encountered more and more traffic as numerous fleets either headed towards the same destination or had just departed from the strategic location.

　　The Larkinsons were already preparing for their pitstop, knowing that the fleet would linger for at least a week before going out again.

　　Ves wanted to complete one more mech design project before arriving in the Davute System. If he was able to purchase a large batch of materials in the star system, his clan would immediately be able to fabricate a score of new mechs.

　　He checked the list of ongoing mech design projects and saw that one of the simpler ones was almost complete.

　　"I haven't checked up on Dulo Voiken in the past few weeks."

　　He decided to stop by the only male among the new Journeymen. When Ves found the recent entrant to the Larkinson Clan, the other man was supervising the design teams tasked with optimizing one of his projects.

　　Ves was only incidentally involved in the so-called Thorn Project.

　　For the most part, Dulo Voiken was solely in charge of the spearman mech designed for the Living Sentinels. The only contribution that Ves had made to this mech design was to make it alive.

　　Other than that, Ves left Dulo to his devices. No matter whether he agreed with Dulo's design choices, the new Journeyman had the right to prove his own ability.

　　Fortunately, the Thorn Project didn't look bad at all. Dulo was definitely a competent mech designer and also excelled at designing spearman mechs.

　　The current iteration of the Thorn Project was noticeably better than the last one that Ves studied in detail. He could see that Dulo was being absolutely serious at delivering the best possible mech to the Living Sentinels.

　　"How is your design project coming along?" Ves eventually spoke.

　　Dulo had noticed the patriarch's entry for a while but did not interrupt his current task. "As you can see, the Thorn Project has reached the final stages. It has already gone through multiple rounds of prototype testing. I've stress-tested them in multiple difficult scenarios and they have performed adequately in the situations my Thorn Project is designed to excel."

　　"What are the scenarios the Thorn Project doesn't perform as well?"

　　"I think you can already guess what they are. They mostly involve offensive actions and situations where the Thorn Project mechs are either by themselves or stuck in chaotic battlefields. My spearman mech is heavily reliant on organization and numbers. If either of these factors are not present, the Sentinel mech pilots will find it quite difficult to perform at their best."

　　Although Dula was exposing the downsides of his mech design, he didn't mind too much. The Thorn Project was the opposite of a flexible and adaptable mech design like the Bright Warrior.

　　It might not fare well in many different situations, but when it came to forming battle lines and defending the fleet against heavy assaults, the male Voiken sibling was confident that his Thorn Project would prove its worth!

　　Ves walked up to a workstation and studied the recent logs. The data and test results supported Dulo's statements.

　　The Thorn Project performed well in many different defensive scenarios, but the premise was that their formations didn't get outflanked!

　　Unless the Living Sentinels was able to deploy enough Thorn Project mechs to form a spear wall in multiple directions, the spearman mechs did not fare well when assailed by attacks from different directions!

　　"The Living Sentinels need a good striker mech or rifleman mech to address the Thorn Project Project's greatest weaknesses." Dulo suggested. "A new striker mech model will not only be able to repel light mechs, but can also stop or slow down flanking attacks from more substantial melee mechs. I think it is a good short-ranged defensive addition to the Living Sentinels."

　　His idea had merit, but Ves thought it was too premature to consider this option.

　　"Let's wait and see how the Thorn Project plays out in reality before thinking about how to fill its gaps. I like your suggestion of adding a striker mech to our lineup."

　　The Thorn Project had obvious shortcomings, but the mech was extremely difficult to defeat from the front.

　　Just its ability to launch repeated stabbing attacks with lots of force behind them was quite impressive!

　　Not only that, but the Thorn Project was also capable of taking a beating. It even came equipped with a tall shield to block attacks from specific angles.

　　While the tall shield was not as wide and thick as a proper tower shield, it still offered sufficient protection while not impairing the attack power of the Thorn Project too much.

　　If a row of Thorn Project mechs all put their shields in front, they could put up enough obstacles to prevent ranged attacks from hitting their torsos. This allowed the spearman mechs to withstand a considerable amount of ranged attacks!