Chapter 7485  Regional Overview

After gaining an extensive understanding of the experiences of the Woodsap mech pilots up to this point, Ves felt a bit let down by his own work.

The combination between the Woodsap System and the Hibiscus System promised to convert norms into effective mech pilots in record time.

While that promise still existed, it no longer shined as brightly as before.

Combat effectiveness was a nebulous phrase. It could mean anything. While there were many ways to quantify this variable, the standards of what constituted an 'effective' combatant were mostly arbitrary and therefore subjective.

From the perspective of an average person, all of the Woodsap mech pilots appeared to have reached a level that already made them useful on the battlefield.

Yet those who possess real expertise in mech warfare still found far too many shortcomings to truly consider them reliable mech combatants.

They still needed to undergo a lot more tempering and studying in order to meet all the essential requirements that qualified them for the most important responsibilities.

In that sense, his Woodsap mechs did not differ so much from his other Carmine mechs after all. They all came with a learning curve. They only differed by the length and the angle of their respective curves.

His Woodsap mechs likely possessed the shortest and gentlest curve. It shouldn't take too much time for the Woodsap mech pilots to reach a more acceptable level of proficiency, and the difficulty of reaching it was much lower than in other cases.

However, all of this ease of use came with a price. Woodsap mech pilots would always remain dependent on the crutch that was the Hibiscus System. By not spending any time on learning how to pilot a Carmine mech through more traditional control means, they would always be held back by the limitations of this technological crutch.

They wouldn't be able to make as many fancy and extreme motions as other mech pilots and Carmine mech pilots.

"Is it possible to disable or remove the Hibiscus System from an existing Woodsap mech?" Ves suddenly wondered.

"I am… unsure." Alexa furrowed her brows. "I do not know how the Hibiscus System works in detail. However, what I picked up from studying the schematics is that its footprint is extensive and by no means light. The entire organic mech frame has partially been molded around this control system. Perhaps it is possible to disable it, but its interconnectedness with the rest of the biomech is so great that it will definitely produce unexpected and undesirable malfunctions."

"Hmm, that does not sound safe. We can't conduct this experiment on a prototype mech because of the chance an accident may cause permanent harm to a Woodsap mech pilot. Let's note down the suggestion. If the Terrans are interested in investigating this matter, they can choose to conduct a study themselves."

Ves did not feel much reason to take up this unpleasant burden. He might as well delegate this inconvenient task to his collaboration partners. If anything went wrong, the blame would lay at their feet.

His direct disciple simply nodded and added an annotation to the logs. "Very well. Are there any other issues that you wish to discuss?"

"There are a few more details that deserve greater attention, but we don't have enough data to form solid conclusions. The prototype Woodsap mechs need to undergo more combat in order to rectify this situation. I am especially interested in tracking the growth of both the individual Woodsap mechs as well as their bonded mech pilots over time."

Since he defined his design philosophy as Mutual Growth in Adversity, this aspect mattered more than most. It was the reason why his works existed and why he designed them in this fashion.

If his experimental works failed to produce sufficient growth for both the living mechs as well as their pilots, then what was the point of developing them in the first place?

Ves needed this to succeed. He needed to witness the growth journeys of the first batch of Woodsap mechs and Woodsap mech pilots with his own eyes in order to verify that he could realize his ambitious dream.

"Are you afraid that the Hibiscus System is holding back the growth of the Woodsap mech pilots, thereby inadvertently cutting off their path to godhood?" Alexa softly asked in concern.

He could not deny this guess. "Maybe. I have… often entertained fears about distorting the growth of the users of my products due to making them overly reliant on conveniences. I have always been careful about drawing a line between the responsibilities of a living mech and a mech pilot. The rule of the mech industry has always been that the latter must always be in control. I… admit that I have skirted this line more often than anyone else, but I always hold firm to the belief that the gains outweigh the costs. The problem is that I am not so certain that remains the case with the Hibiscus System."

Was he condemning all future Woodsap mechs to a fate that forever placed them below other Carmine mech pilots in the hierarchy?

This thought tormented him in the back of his mind.

"This is not your responsibility." Alexa tried to console him. "The Terrans decided to implement the Hibiscus System for their own reasons. They know more than you how it works and what the possible implications are. They have already incorporated this possible disadvantage into their calculations. Perhaps to them, Woodsap mechs are mostly needed to provide rapid military relief in the short term. Sacrificing their long-term potential is a worthwhile tradeoff. If necessary, the Terran Alliance may be planning to design a more promising Woodsap mech without the Hibiscus System once the immediate crises have passed."

That made a lot of sense.

Though Ves still felt somewhat bad about it, he knew that red humanity could not afford to neglect current needs for future desires.

The two mech designers eventually wrapped up the meeting. Alexa would continue to monitor the Woodsap mechs as they engaged in various small-scale skirmishes and pay special attention to their individual growth rates.

Several days passed by.

The combined fleet had quickly wrapped up its business in the border system. The nearby garrison planet had only suffered a very short raid before getting bombarded by the Tortuous Scream and numerous human warships.

Though it was impossible to wipe out all traces of alien occupation from the planet in this short window of time, they at least set back its role as a convenient staging point for incursions into human-occupied space.

It would take a considerable amount of time, effort and resources to rebuild all of those facilities again.

Perhaps the native aliens would eventually be able to make everything as good as new after a time, but that was assuming that this damage existed in isolation.

The Larkinsons and the Terrans did not want to leave it like this. They did not come here just to be annoying.

One of the primary objectives of the Nemesis Campaign was to inflict so much damage to the regional infrastructure that it significantly set back efforts to invade and overrun Terran space.

This may have been a good start, but they needed to sustain their current success across many other alien-occupied star systems.

The combined fleet got ready to depart. The various naval squadrons and mech companies that had previously spread out in order to fulfill various patrol, reconnaissance or raiding missions had all been recalled by this time.

Under the command of Saint Commander Casella Ingvar, the many starships smoothly transitioned into FTL travel, much to the relief of the surviving alien soldiers who had never gathered the courage to force another engagement.

Since the combined fleet was traveling behind enemy lines, it needed to chart an unpredictable course in order to evade enemy ambushes.

The first hop in their journey behind enemy space only deposited them into a nearby red dwarf star system.

This conspicuous and resource-poor location held nothing of value. Its only value to the humans was to serve as a more covert launching pad.

Without so many powerful alien assets in the star system, the human forces could reach their next destination without exposing their precise headings to any precise alien sensor systems that may be looking into their direction.

Ves attended a brief meeting held by the Saint Commander deep inside the Tortuous Scream.

Director Calabast first presented her initial findings.

"We have collected a wealth of messy alien data from dozens of crippled or destroyed alien vessels as well as over a hundred different orbital and planetary facilities at our previous location. There is far too much of it that we are unable to examine it all in detail in a short amount of time. We have only been able to skim through the stolen databases and attempt to crack into particularly interesting vaults. One of the choices we have made is to prioritize the decryption and translation of the records that we have obtained from the captured archecruiser. With the help of Gloriana's associates as well as our smart AIs, we have managed to obtain a more extensive understanding of the surrounding star regions."

A projection came to life that depicted a star map centered around the combined fleet's current location.

The delineation between human space and alien space was very obvious.

Ves had seen this map many times before, but the difference was that Calabast had indeed added a lot more information to the alien side.

"While all of this data has not yet been completely verified, we do not think it deviates too much from reality. I can tell you a great deal about the many star systems that the native aliens have occupied, but in the interest of brevity, I would like to highlight three locations of importance."

One star system lit up in red.

"The Hypeh-Tekas System. The archecruiser has recently received a priority navigational notification. The Red Cabal has restricted unauthorized parties from entering this star system. Given the well-known tendencies of the arche to sneak into star systems where they are not welcome, the arche received a specific warning not to defy this directive. There is no explanation. That is suspicious in itself. According to the notes left behind by an officer, the arche speculate that the phase whales may be preparing a major action at this location. We might wish to pay the Hypeh-Tekas System a visit."

Ves felt uncertain about this proposal. A visit may yield nothing useful given the complete lack of solid information. Visiting this place was a complete gamble.

The projection highlighted a second star system that was situated a bit further away from the border.

"Then there is the Eerlie System. One of our possible goals is to find and uproot the site where the cosmopolitans have congregated in alien space. The arche's regular spying activities have uncovered a fairly secretive research institution that is staffed by both cosmopolitan and native alien scientists. They are most probably working to combine the technologies of both races into readily usable applications. Raiding this site will definitely hamper these efforts and allow us to gain a much better idea of what the cosmopolitans are doing in alien space."

Many people seriously doubted that this was the only institution of its kind. The Cosmopolitan Movement was very fractured and decentralized from the start. Destroying the fruits of a single terrorist cell would not significantly harm the progress of other radical cells.

A third location lit up. This one was located much deeper into alien space.

"The last location of importance is the Luuh Gamma System." Calabast said. "We have very little information on this star system because the native aliens that know about it do not dare to record too much about it. We only managed to learn that it is a holy site of sorts. The sacred star system is home to a temple dedicated to the so-called Elder Gods. That is all we truly know. Given how much the phase whales and other major races revere these mythical entities, this temple should definitely be an important site. We may be able to obtain priceless information and spoils if we choose to travel this far."

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