The Mech Touch

Although Ves wanted to get rid of Jannzi right away, he knew that he needed to give her a satisfactory answer.

Pissing off an expert pilot was never a good idea. Pissing off Jannzi when he knew that she spoke for a larger group of clansmen also wasn't wise.

Part of being a patriarch was to placate his constituents when they opposed his policies and decisions.

He did not pay too much attention to this in the past, but as the Larkinson Clan grew explosively in the last few years, the situation had gradually become more complex.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come from every corner of the old galaxy and joined the Larkinson Clan.

The fact that they managed to get through the screening meant that they were at least somewhat compatible with his ideology.

However, it was hard to recruit qualified manpower that were just as aggressive and ambitious as himself. A lot of professionals who had joined the clan in the last 5 years were much more innocent and naive than the battle-tested veterans that had gone through the Battle of Reckoning, the Battle of Fordilla Zentra and the Purgatory Campaign.

These newer adopted Larkinsons never developed any personal grudges against the Fridaymen. They only heard about the hatred that the Larkinson Clan held towards the Friday Coalition but never became involved with it until recently.

If Ves wanted to maintain the cohesion of all 500,000 Larkinsons in the fleet, then he needed to be more considerate about the needs of the ones that weren't eager to bash the faces of the Fridaymen.

He sighed again. "I know it is hard to get this through your thick expert pilot skull, but you vastly overestimate my influence. While I am willing to restrain our fellow Larkinsons, I have no power in stopping the Hexers from doing what they want. The Hexers who have fled to the Red Ocean have all done so because they were driven out by the Fridaymen. The hatred between these two groups is irreconcilable."

Even Jannzi couldn't deny that the Fridaymen and Hexers were unlikely to become friends, but that didn't mean she should give up on her quest.

"Where is your humanity? Oh, I forgot. You corroded it many years ago. You're a mech designer without a conscience."

"Humanity is a lot uglier than you think. Imagine if this situation was reversed and that it is the Friday Colonies plotting to attack the Hex Federation. The Fridaymen would have butchered the Hexers without any hesitation if they managed to succeed in an attack. The Hexers are merely defending their own civilians, many of whom are also innocent by the way, from unjust slaughter by striking first."

"That is the stupidest and most deceitful argument that I have heard from you so far. You're despicable, Ves." The expert pilot snarled.

"Then let me give you another dose of reality. The ultimate truth is that the Magair Middle Zone is too small to accommodate the Fridaymen and Hexers. They're going to fight and kill each other no matter what you think about it because they're never going to respect your opinion. At least now a fight will take place while the colonies are relatively underdeveloped. Only millions will die instead of billions. Isn't that great?"

"..."

Ves crossed his arms. "If you want to issue a demand from me, then be realistic. Even without our clan's involvement, the Hex Federation still would have committed to this attack. They would be fools not to after one group of Fridaymen sold out another group of Fridaymen. Hell, even our allies would have continued without us. The Glory Seekers are literally Hexers while Patriarch Reginald Cross will jump at any legitimate opportunity to duel against an ace pilot. This attack will proceed without or without our participation."

"What are you saying, Ves?"

"Instead of trying to stop the inevitable, you should focus on trying to accomplish a goal that is within your power." He calmly said. "Don't forget you are just one of many expert pilots in our clan and alliance. If you happened to be an ace pilot, we would take your opinions much more seriously, but even then it is unlikely that you can do much to change our course unless you can convince Saint Reginald to reconsider his intentions. For now, your voice is limited, and you need to accept that, Jannzi."

The woman's face turned ugly. She understood this truth quite well due to being confronted by it many times. Even though her progress as an expert pilot was quite impressive, there were plenty of other expert pilots that also performed well within the clan.

Aside from that, the influence of Patriarch Reginald was too great. Even though he was not as clever and ingenious as Ves, being an ace pilot allowed Reginald a lot of opposition by force or by the admiration he drew from his strength!

There were many times where Jannzi saw how easily Reginald got things done by issuing decrees. If she was as powerful as him, she too would have been able to change the direction of her entire clan!

The expert pilot shook her head. She was far from reaching this height. She needed to bide her time and wait until she developed to a point where she could restore a bit of sanity in the Larkinson Clan.

In the meantime, she accepted Ves' advice and took a step back. She thought for a moment before she came up with a more realistic alternative.

"Then… can you convince the Hexers to show more restraint in battle? I don't mean that they should hold back against hostile combatants. The Fridaymen mech pilots and defensive personnel are all soldiers who have accepted the risks that come with the job. The civilians haven't. They are earnest colonists and immigrants that have moved to the Red Ocean in order to build a new future for themselves and their families. Please tell our forces and the forces of our allies to spare them if possible. I can understand it if the civilians take up arms, but there is no reason to harm them as long as they do nothing but cower in their shelters."

That was a more sensible suggestion. Ves seriously considered the possibility.

"Our people are honorable, so  they will not be a party to any massacres. The Crossers are the same. I'm not sure about the Glory Seekers and the Hexers, though. The war against the Fridaymen has run too deep. In a state of total war, the civilian population of the Friday Colonies are all invaluable assets. Even if they don't directly serve in the armed forces, they are still capable of farming food, mining exotics, producing mechs, manning starships and handling all the bureaucracy. Sparing these civilians will mean that they will eventually put their time and effort into endeavors that will cause a lot of harm to the Hex Federation."

Jannzi's face grew ugly again. "You can't convince the Hexers to do even this?"

"What I am saying is that sparing the Fridaymen will leave future dangers behind that will come to bite the Hex Federation in the butt. It is not in the best interest of the Hexers to make a decision that will only cause further harm for themselves."

"Hehehehe. That is funny. In my opinion, the Hexers are quite good at self-harm." Jannzi darkly chuckled.

"Well, you may have had a point in the past, but they've lost a lot of their hubris. They will definitely make certain that they are not as careless as before. That will only strengthen their resolve to crush the Fridaymen as much as possible. It is unrealistic for the Hexer soldiers to spare any mercy towards the civilian colonists residing in Pima Prime. Your reasoning is not good enough."

This put Jannzi in a bind. She could not in good conscience allow herself to leave without a result. If she wanted to do more than pay lip service to values, then she needed to be more earnest in upholding her noble ideals!

"Then… what about taking the Fridaymen civilians prisoner?" She reluctantly suggested.

"Go on."

"It will be just like what you have done with the pakklatons. Since you're willing to spare alien civilians, there is no reason why the Hexers can do the same with the Fridaymen. Taking prisoners is a common occurrence in war. The Hexers don't have to do this for nothing. Human lives are valuable. It is impossible for the Gauge Dynasty to allow millions of its citizens to languish in captivity. The Hex Federation can ransom the prisoners or use them as leverage for a swap. I am certain that the Friday Coalition captured a lot of Hexer soldiers during the Komodo War. If these Hexer prisoners are still languishing in their cells, then they can finally be freed after the two sides make a deal!"

This was a much better argument than what Ves had heard before! While it was a lot harder to take so many prisoners in a short amount of time, it should be viable as long as the Hex Federation made additional preparations.

Most colony settlements in the Red Ocean offered robust emergency shelters for its citizens in case they came under attack.

These shelters could mostly be found deep underground and were all hardened against determined attacks and orbital bombardment.

Normally, it took a lot of time and effort to find and breach these shelters. It was much easier to shatter them entirely with overwhelming might than to delicately drill an entrance and capture every person inside with nonlethal force.

The situation was different this time. The leaked intelligence happened to include thorough blueprints and maps that showed the locations, capacities and other traits of each emergency shelter.

This made it at least ten times easier to break into them and empty them of people!

Ves smiled at Jannzi. "I will pass on this suggestion to the Hexers. I think it has a lot of merit. While killing prisoners will undoubtedly set back the Fridaymen, the Hexers can gain even greater profit if they make good use of their new bargaining chips. However, I should warn you that accidents can always happen on the battlefield. Mechs aren't known for being gentle. I hope you adjust your expectations properly."

"As long as our side doesn't engage in butchery, I will take it. I hope we can put this sordid operation behind us as soon as possible and head towards the deep frontier where we can fight against proper opponents. I truly cannot understand why we humans have to fight at all. Aren't there enough territories in the Red Ocean for people to colonize? Why couldn't the Fridaymen and Hexers settle further away from each other? Occupying star systems in the same zone is just asking for trouble!"

Ves cluelessly shrugged. "I don't know either. People are strange like that. The Fridaymen and Hexers simply can't let each other go. Not even relocating to the new frontier can change their obsession towards each other."

"These people would have benefited humanity a lot more if they stopped fighting against each other and turned their firepower against the aliens." Jannzi said while shaking her head in disappointment. "They're like children that can't accept the need to share their toys. Although I don't like it, our race is aggressively encroaching on the territories of other races, this is at least more sensible than allowing humans to fight and kill each other like nothing has changed."

"This is part of human nature, Jannzi. Even in a situation where there are a lot of star systems up for grabs, we can't help but want to monopolize the best star systems with the richest resources. This is why Davute and Makairo are slowly entering into a collision course even though there is still a lot more room for expansion in their own colonies. We just keep wanting to obtain more."

"What if we stop wanting more?"

"Then we'll get overtaken by hostile alien races that are more hungry and have made more gains than us. There is no way out. We can either keep progressing as fast as we can or we die."