"Do you rember the MTA ch pilots that we've been assigned to train?" General Verle asked during a rare personal visit to the Spirit of Bentheim.
Even though Verle spent most of his days aboard the Graveyard as of late, he still visited other ships whenever the fleet transitioned back in realspace from ti to ti.
This was the mark of a good and caring leader. Verle didn't let his huge promotion get to his head. With the increasing number of senior officers joining the clan, he felt more pressure than ever to work hard and supplent his learning. If he just sat back and enjoyed the comforts of his rank, then it would only be a matter of ti before Ves put a more competent general officer above his head!
Though General Verle did not actually mind if a better general was able to do a better job at strengthening the Larkinsons, he did not intend to admit defeat so easily.
Just like Ves, the general tasted the benefits of being the top dog. With him in power, he was not only able to ensure that his Flagrant Vandals were treated fairly, he was also able to push his own fighting doctrines onto the Larkinson Clan.
It was fortunate that his views on how soldiers should achieve victory happened to match the circumstances of the Larkinson Clan. Boosting friendly morale and attacking enemy morale was his bread and butter… The glows of certain Larkinson ch provided him with incredibly effective and reliable tools to accomplish his desired results.
However, he didn't co here today to talk about strategy.
"There are two items on the agenda which I wish to talk to you about, sir." General Verle spoke. "One of them is relatively minor and one of them will substantially affect the future of our military force makeup."
Ves grew curious enough to stop petting Lucky's back. "Start with the small one first."
"ow."
Lucky looked annoyed that Ves stopped giving him his daily pampering. When Ves resud caressing his back, the gem cat relaxed and squinted in pleasure.
"First, I'd like to report on the progress of the MTA ch pilots. More than a month has passed since we started to put them through their paces."
Ves groaned. "Let guess. They're sulking like children because their parents dropped them off at the wrong house, am I close?"
"How did you know?" Verle looked amused.
"It's not hard to put myself in their place. I once went through a similar experience when I took part in the Glowing Planet Campaign."
That happened a long ti ago. The Glowing Planet was where Ves beca exposed to massive ch battles for the first ti in his life. Dietrich, Walter's Whalers and Rorach's Bone used to be important in his life.
Now, Ves hardly even rembered that Dietrich was a mber of the Battle Criers. Last he checked, the forr Cloudy Curtainer had matured into a trusted officer and cadre among the Kinners.
General Verle patiently waited for Ves to finish reminiscing about the past. mories of past experiences were precious. Neither of the two were young anymore and their increased status made it very difficult for them to repeat their earlier exploits.
If either of them were forced to enter the field, then sothing had badly gone wrong.
Ves eventually snapped out of his mories. "Anyway, the patience of the chers must be wearing thin, right?"
"They're not even hiding their opinions from us, sir. They have voiced a lot of criticism of our thods. To be honest, our instructors are at wits end. Most of their lessons don't stick or are completely redundant. Their willpower is not weak, but we don't have any leverage to exercise it any further."
Ves frowned. That sounded worse than he thought. "What about pitting them against our expert candidates and expert pilots?"
"Sparring against our expert candidates is one of the few activities they enjoy. While they respect our expert pilots, that is all. The gulf between them is too vast to give the expert pilots any aningful improvent opportunities. Part of the reason why expert pilots are so effective even when they are piloting ordinary chs is because their intuition and battle instincts are transformatively better. Other ch pilots simply can't approach this level through regular training."
Though it was true that Ves didn't expect the chers to make much progress, he was still displeased when his prediction ca true.
A part of him hoped that these extrely skilled and privileged ch pilots were able to show their superiority in this aspect. Their failure to do so indicated that the Association was truly far behind in certain aspects.
Of course, this was not entirely bad news to Ves. Now that he confird that regular training was unlikely to change the situation for the better, only his more extraordinary thods could make the difference.
"The MTA ch pilots have actually issued a request to us. They want to see if you can make a difference by designing custom chs for them. Whether they are right or wrong, they are convinced that your design philosophy can play a decisive role in changing their fate."
Ves frowned deeper. "I don't think they're wrong, but their demand is too extravagant. Do you know how valuable my ti has beco? I haven't even finished any of the expert ch designs as of yet and I already have a lot of pending ideas for the next round of design projects.
Was it worth it to occupy a design slot in exchange for 500,000 MTA rits? Perhaps he would have jumped at this opportunity in the past, but to Ves the ti and effort he had to reserve to design a single proper ch was far more valuable!
A lot of ch forces had issued persisted demands to receive their own exclusive chs. The Living Sentinels, the Battle Criers and the Flagrant Vandals were feeling a bit unloved lately. Though the clan took great care of them, the lead designers of the Larkinson Clan had not yet showered them with attention.
The adoption of well-received ch models such as the Bright Warrior and the Ferocious Piranha didn't count because of their universality. What the Sentinels and so on really sought were chs that bestowed them with a unique advantage.
Ves was happy to oblige them, but he first had to finish the current round of ch designs before he considered anything else. He already sketched out a handful of interesting ch concepts in his free ti.
"I'm not going to oblige their demands." He shook his head. "I already have another solution in mind. I don't have the ti to work it out at the mont."
"Well, you better start doing sothing in the near future or else these chers will get really mad. So of them are already approaching the limits to their patience."
Ves sighed. "You can tell them that I'll supply them with a special machine soti later this year. I won't commit to designing custom ch for all twenty of them, but I think I can co up with a targeted product that will accelerate their progress."
This was just a spurious idea of his. He was quite interested in designing or adapting a ch model that could exercise an aspect that ch pilots needed to beco an expert candidate. Whether it was willpower, experience or sothing else, anything that closed the gap between a standard ch pilot and an expert candidate would probably increase the success rate of his main experint!
Ves and General Verle continued to discuss more details about the chers.
Though Ves knew that his personal intervention was likely the key to bestowing spiritual potential to these elitist ch pilots, Gloriana would kill him if he diverted his attention from his current work.
Fortunately, all of the training perford so far was not in vain. The MTA ch pilots provided him with a lot of detailed information. Ves gained a much more accurate picture of the differences between his own ch pilots and the ones that stood on a much higher starting point.
The chers also beca influenced by the Larkinson ways. While Ves had no illusion that the powerful ch pilots wanted to defect to the Larkinson Clan, they should at least develop a asure of respect towards their hosts.
This would definitely beco useful in the future. In what way, Ves could scarcely guess, but his intuition told him that the tedious training was not completely pointless!
Once they finished discussing this topic, General Verle moved to a more important matter.
"Do you rember that the Ylvainans are about to set up their own ch force?"
A wry smile appeared on Ves' face. "I rember. Haven't they gotten their act together yet? It has been months since they started to make their preparations."
"It's not like the old days, Ves. You can't simply add a major combat unit to our organization without setting off a lot of upheaval. Personnel need to be reassigned. Ships have to transfer from one ch force to another. The Ylvainans have to build an entire structure from scratch and hire enough officers and technical personnel to ensure their ch force would run smoothly. Our military bureau had to provide a lot of assistance to them in order to fill up the gaps in their staff."
"So what is holding them back?"
"Not much, actually. They have already smoothed out most of the remaining wrinkles. I believe they will be ready to make an announcent within a week."
"Oh. That's fast. Will the Ylvainans be unveiling so extra surprises?"
"I don't believe so, sir, but may Calabast can tell you more." General Verle replied. "What I can say is that the Ylvainans will primarily focus on precision-based warfare. The Transcendent Punisher has played a great role in defining their place in our fighting lineup. You can expect a lot of Ylvainans to beco artillery ch enthusiasts. They have thoroughly fallen in love with relying on the 'Great Prophet' to guide their aim and distinguish key targets from distractions."
Ves had so misgivings. "It is not a good idea for a ch force to beco overly dependent on a specific ch model or design spirit. Even if Ylvaine is a really big deal for them, they should try to broaden their horizons and ensure they will remain battle effective even if Ylvaine no longer bestows his blessings on his flock."
"I agree, sir, but these Ylvainans are stubborn about change. Only an authority figure that they can truly respect such as the forr Living Prophet and you can command their attention. You should pay them a visit once they are ready to establish their ch force."
"Ugh. Fine. I owe these Ylvainans. I can give them a favor."
"ow." His cat squird on his lap.
"You're missing the point, Lucky. The Ylvainans might be loyal, but their faith is a bunch of nonsense. We shouldn't encourage them too much. The growth of their new ch force must be subject to constraints in order to prevent religious Larkinsons from taking over our clan."
General Verle slowly nodded. "My n will definitely be monitoring the Ylvainans closely. My greatest concern is that they may beco overenthusiastic in their attempts to pull in new converts. Aside from organic growth, the only way for the Ylvainans to expand their ranks is to pull in other clansn."
"Every clansn is free to act in a reasonable fashion in their downti, but I hope my n aren't gullible enough to fall for any scams.
"I don't think this is entirely bad." General Verle stated. "Those who are more susceptible to religion will end up believing in one faith or another. It is better for these impressionable individuals to commit to a faith that is already under our umbrella than to believe in other, more dangerous religions."
Ves had beco a bit more pragmatic about this issue than before. He had co across too many fanatics to think they could simply stop believing in anything. The voids in their hearts needed to be filled, so why not resort to a friendly and harmless belief like the Ylvainan Faith?
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