The Mech Touch Chapter 3965 Expanding the Army

Chapter 3965 Expanding the Army

Chief Minister Magdalena Larkinson unveiled a controversial proposal.

For a long ti, the Larkinson Army was split into seven unique and distinct ch legions.

The Avatars of Myth, the Living Sentinels, the Battle Criers, the Flagrant Vandals, the Swordmaidens, the Penitent Sisters and the Eye of Ylvaine covered the majority of roles of a comprehensive ch force.

In fact, there was a lot of overlap as well. There was no pressing need to add yet another ch legion that excelled at assaults or reconnaissance.

Even so, Ves knew that an older woman and forr military officer like Magdalena would not speak out on impulse. She must have been convinced that there was a serious problem in the Larkinson Army to make such a drastic proposal.

The reactions from other military leaders such as General Verle and Commander Casella suggested that Magdalena already discussed the issue with them in advance.

"As my fellow chief minister already stated, diversity is one of our main advantages. Why should we confine ourselves to just seven ch legions when we can accommodate more?" She explained. "The current state of our clan and fleet does not offer any room for additional ch legions, but that will change once we expand our fleet and our outposts. With additional capacity for chs, we should seriously think whether it is better to add a new ch legion than to expand one of our existing ones."

"If you have co up with this proposal, then you must have already co up with concrete suggestions." Ves stated as he paid close attention to the chief minister.

Magdalena nodded. "That is correct. One of the main flaws of our Larkinson Army is that we currently host thousands of ch pilots and even more dependents from the Heavensword Association who are not at ho in any of the existing ch legions. The Swordmaidens are the closest to this group, but their martial traditions are too far apart despite possessing a common love for swordsmanship."

Ves grimaced. She was right. The inability to adequately accommodate the Heavensworders, especially the male ones, was a significant oversight.

Plenty of them had joined other ch legions that had room for swordsman chs, but ch legions such as the Avatars of Myth adopted ch doctrines and martial customs that did not entirely align with the Heavensworders.

Since they weren't able to fit into the existing ch legions, it made sense for them to form their own military troop!

"Isn't it redundant to field two separate ch legions centered around swordsman chs?" Director Ranya Wodin questioned. "The Swordmaidens and the Heavensworders fight in nearly the sa way. Keeping them separate will lead to a lot of duplication, which is inefficient and wasteful. Why not rge them together into a single sword-oriented ch legion that accepts every gender?"

"Impossible!" Ketis stood up from her seat! "With respect, you don't know what you are talking about, Ranya. All of their swords might look the sa to you, but in the eyes of an expert, there is an incredible diversity of sword styles and philosophies. The Heavensworders may be able to get along with each other, but the Swordmaiden ch Legion is a unique institution that should be kept as pure as possible in order to preserve its existing advantages! I won't approve of any initiative that causes us to lose our identity! This is not why we have joined the Larkinson Clan!"

The only swordmaster in the grand planning session issued a predictable response. She may have gained a lot of prominence as a Larkinson, but she always identified herself as a Swordmaiden first.

"I agree with Ketis. We all respect the Heavensworders and challenge them to sword fights in our free ti, but that doesn't an we accept all of their ways and vice versa." Commander Sendra of the Swordmaidens concurred.

Venerable Dise also supported her fellow Swordmaidens. "Keep us separate."

"Okay, that is a pretty clear answer." Ves said as he wanted to put an end to any talk of rging the Swordmaidens with another ch legion. "While the justifications to form a separate Heavensword ch Legion aren't the strongest, I think we should do right by the mbers in our clan. We already accepted them in our ranks, so it is also our responsibility to see that they are happy and respected."

No one issued any strong objections anymore to this specific initiative now that the patriarch had spoken.

That still left the question of what else Magdalena wanted to add to the Larkinson Army.

"We will have a need for ch units that are specialized in both landbound and aquatic combat." She said. "Perhaps our clan will not frequently ddle into conflicts where fights take place on land or underwater, but it is better to have the necessary expertise, training and experience on hand than not. The sooner we start with organizing ch legions that excel in those environnts, the more we are able to contend in campaigns that take place on different planets."

This was a bold and farsighted suggestion, though not everyone saw the need to expand the Larkinson Army in this fashion.

"We are primarily a spaceborn clan that fights in space." An assembly mber retorted. "This is where we should invest most of our resources. Our ch legions are also versatile enough to fight on land if necessary. The only serious gap we have are chs that can fight in aquatic battlefields, but how often do we need to do so? We can easily do without aquatic chs if we avoid any campaigns that involve water-based environnts."

"We don't have the room for an aquatic ch legion right now, but what about ten or twenty years from now? We lucked out during the Purgatory Campaign because the phase whale enclave was close enough to a spaceborn environnt for our chs to remain useful. What if we stumble upon another motherload of phasewater that is buried underneath a deep ocean? I don't know much about chs, but even I know that most machines will malfunction and drown when subrged in water."

The opinions on this matter were a little more divided. A ch legion was a substantial burden to the clan. No one wanted to host a new ch legion that took up a lot of precious ch capacity but hardly got put to use in any expeditions or campaigns. It was better to hire a specialized rcenary troop if that was the case.

Ves thought about it for a mont. Though the cheapskate within him felt that it was not necessary to expand the Larkinson Army with these ch legions, Magdalena's proposal made a lot more sense in the long term.

"I think there is rit in founding these ch legions." Ves stated his opinion. "Better yet, maybe we can combine this suggestion with the previous proposal and acquire existing ch troops with the specialties we need."

Just like with half of the ch legions that were currently in the clan, adding new ones by absorbing entire outfits brought many advantages.

"We will do our best to find opportunities to take over rcenary companies that excel in landbound and aquatic combat." Magdalena affird. "It shouldn't be too difficult to find decent landbound troops, but those with the capability to fight well underwater are much rarer."

"Take your ti. There is no hurry to expand. We don't have the carrier capacity to accommodate so many new chs anyway." Ves casually said.

"Thank you, sir. We will remain on the lookout for good opportunities." Chief Minister Magdalena replied. "Aside from this, our clan should also diversify in other areas. A good example of that would be to add a bioch legion to the Larkinson Army. Biotechnology has beco an increasingly more prominent specialty of our clan and we have already harvested a wealth of information and biotissue of different alien life forms. It would be a waste if we fail to take advantage of our growing competence in this area."

"We don't need biochs. Conventional chs can already cover all of our needs. Working with biochs will only bog us down with greater logistical burdens and other problems."

"That's not necessarily the case. If we have plans to hire bioch designers and if we keep all of the biochs into a self-contained ch troop, we can handle the additional burdens."

"It depends on whether we intend to design biochs in the first place. If we don't, then it is hard to justify this addition."

The Larkinson Clan almost exclusively fielded chs designed in-house. This was not only a strategic decision but also a point of pride. It would be a break in the pattern to field biochs designed by third party ch designers.

Many gazes shifted to the ch designers seated at the table.

"I have already made a decision to add a bioch designer to our Design Departnt." Ves announced. "I don't intend for our clan to switch over to biochs entirely, but we will definitely explore organic chs and cybernetic chs in the future."

"If this is the case, then fielding a bioch legion makes even more sense." Magdalena said. "One of the purposes of our ch legions is to demonstrate the performance and use of our living chs. We can inspire more sales if we are able to show that we can achieve impressive victories with our style of products."

That was another important argunt. Ves had read plenty of reports that confird that there was a correlation between victories and boost in sales.

The public admired strong chs and concrete battle results. A lot more buyers would feel at ease with the decision to order living chs if they had vividly demonstrated their advantages in combat.

Ves knew that the bioch industry was a difficult market to get into, especially for a brand that had no history with biochs.

Having a strong bioch legion and leading it to victory a few tis could do wonders in raising the profile of several excellent bioch models!

"Let us start small at first." Chief Minister Magdalena said after Ves had given his response. "It takes ti to design the biochs after we have hired the right specialists. If we start too soon, we will have to field comrcial bioch models developed by other parties."

"Okay, all of these proposals sound good so far. Do you have any suggestions for additional ch legions?"

"There are more, but their priorities are not as high." The chief minister answered. "In the future, we may look into creating a tunneling ch legion, an independent expedition ch legion, an elite defensive ch legion, a law enforcent ch legion and a propaganda ch legion, among others."

Ves was in no hurry to explore these additional options at this ti. A ch troop dedicated to tunneling actions sounded a lot more niche than one that simply fought on land.

Aside from that, Ves saw little need to field a law enforcent ch legion if the Larkinson Clan did not set up its own colony. The other ch legions could already cover a lot of security needs even if they could only resort to lethal armants when fighting against criminals.

As for a propaganda ch legion, Ves didn't even know what Magdalena ant by that. Was this just a troop of chs that solely existed to put on a good show or sothing? That sounded completely redundant to his ears.

"I think we will already have our hands full with adding four new ch legions to our army in the coming years. We shouldn't bite more than we can chew" General Verle concluded. "Let us form the new units for the Heavensworders and other specialties first before we consider additional options. Our situation will change drastically a decade later. We will have a better idea of what we need to fill up our gaps."

"Very well, then. Four ch legions it is. We will discuss the budgets for this montous expansion in a subsequent planning session."

Ves kind of looked forward to taking an active part in the shaping of these new ch units. There weren't many opportunities for him to create a new troop according to his own ideas!