Chapter 6749 The Goal of an Ace Commander

Ves stared curiously at Casella's physical projection.

He badly wanted to know the answer. Her decision would have far-reaching

consequences for the Minerva Mark II, her future combat performance and the development of their clan.

No other expert pilot or ace pilot could exert this much influence over the Larkinson Clan than the Saint Commander!

Ves already voiced his own preference. He believed that the Minerva Mark II would definitely become successful regardless of whether she made use of ST-668 Archon or Dragon Scales.

However, if Ves made a consideration based on his own safety and the safety of his family, then he had a slight preference for Dragon Scales.

Starships were powerful, but they were also large and obvious targets.

Against powerful enough enemies such as phase lords, most vessels lacked the capability to survive a direct confrontation.

The Saint Commander had the potential to change that by resonating with Dragon Scales and developing her Command Field in a more defensive direction.

However, Ves and Gloriana did not have the right to make decisions on behalf of the ace commander. They could only present the viable options to Casella and let her decide for herself.

Ves did not bother to skew or manipulate the information on the two key resonating alloys.

Doing so might increase the probability that Casella would pick Dragon Scales, but it was a dishonest practice that broke the rules of his profession.

Mech designers existed to serve mech pilots.

He should never treat his mech pilots as his property to use as he saw fit. Such a mentality went against the spirit of a service provider and would eventually lead him astray.

As long as he remained determined to become a Star Designer one day, he could never allow himself to slip too far away from the fundamental tenets and principles of a mech designer.

Therefore, he tried to be as honest as possible when presenting the various pros and cons of ST-688 Archon and Dragon Scales.

He even mentioned that if Casella still did not feel satisfied with the options available to her, he could continue to look for other compatible resonating materials, though doing so may delay the completion of the Minerva Mark II Proiect.

Ves believed he had done his due diligence in this regard. All he needed was Casella's

answer.

No matter what decision she made, Ves had a professional obligation to realize the mech that his client wanted to pilot, not necessarily the mech that served his purposes the best.

It would be great if the two mechs were identical to each other, but Ves did not dare to get his hopes up. What Casella wanted from her ace mech may ultimately be different from what he envisioned.

"The two choices that you have presented to me can roughly be categorized as an offensive and defensive upgrade." Casella voiced her own thoughts over the remote comm session. "When I think about how I want to fight against our enemies in the future, I have a clear idea of what I do not want to become."

She took a deep breath and flicked her gaze to the side.

"I do not want to become an ace commander who mainly cares about earning glory and improving my reputation by winning victories. There is nothing wrong about winning per se, but the troops that are under my command are not tools that I should relentlessly exploit until they are completely spent. Every battle demands a sacrifice. The greater the ambition, the greater the amount of losses our side will suffer. There are those who care less about the death toll than others, but I refuse to be counted among them. Every clansman's life is precious. I am not naive enough to believe I can prevent every casualty from occurring, but I should at least do everything in my power to ensure that most of my troops will live long enough to enjoy their victory... or survival."

The heavy emotions in her words made it very clear why she leaned in this direction. Both Ves and Gloriana exchanged glances with each other.

Casella had quickly established herself as an impeccable commander and saint.

She already demonstrated exemplary behavior and leadership back when she was an expert commander, so none of this was new.

The only flaw that marred her perfect life and career was the death of her brother.

This traumatic accident not only triggered her breakthrough, but also scarred her down to her very spirit.

"As the Saint Commander of the Larkinson Clan, killing the most formidable enemies on the battlefield is not my primary concern." Casella continued to speak to the Miracle Couple in the hopes that they would align the Minerva Mark II according to her ideas. "My main objective is always to keep our clan alive and to preserve the lives of as many soldiers as possible. That does not mean I intend to avoid all possible battles. There may be occasions when we must put our troops at risk on the battlefield in order to prevent a future where more of our clansmen will get killed. We

must have the courage to fight our battles, but we must also have leaders who will do right by our mech pilots. Right now, there are too few mech officers that I know of who can find the right balance."

The Saint Commander touched upon a dilemma that plagued every officer.

Any leader gained a lot of responsibilities when put in charge of a group of people. This granted a lot of power to the individual in charge. He or she could subsequently use the power of the collective to achieve many goals that were otherwise impossible to fulfill by any single person alone.

Yet when a military commander led a force of soldiers in combat, every decision came with serious consequences.

A mistake could cause hundreds of Larkinsons to lose their lives.

A switch in strategy could preserve the lives of many clansmen, but also condemn other Larkinsons to their deaths.

It was not easy for Casella to bear this burden. Losses were inevitable, but that did not mean she could remain unmoved by these tragedies.

She refused to allow herself to become immune to the sadness that came from the death of every subordinate!

Casella did not want to become fixated on success to the point where she ceased to care about the many earnest soldiers that did not hesitate to put their lives under her

care.

"So you have chosen to go for Dragon Scales?" Ves asked in confirmation. The Saint Commander firmly nodded. "That is correct, patriarch. I am not rejecting ST-688 Archon because it is problematic to use in the long-term. I am rejecting it because I prioritize keeping more of my troops alive than to offer them like chess pieces to the enemy in the hopes of earning fame by defeating powerful phase lords. There are too few expert pilots and ace pilots that are doing their best to protect our regular forces. I do not blame them as they are shouldering their own burdens, but I am in a good position to accomplish what they cannot easily do themselves. Under my command, no Larkinson will die unjustly. That is my promise."

She had made a serious vow. This pretty much cemented her choice of key resonating materials and locked in her development trajectory.

While Ves was happy that her choice coincided with his own priorities, he was not as happy with the fact that her decision was driven by trauma rather than an aspirational

reason.

"You made the right choice." Gloriana remarked in a softer voice than usual. "Saint General Ark Larkinson certainly cannot be as generous as you. Despite being an ace commander himself, his solution towards enemies that are threatening the lives of his subordinates is to kill the most powerful adversaries while looking good in the

process."

Ves felt the need to interject. "To be fair, that is how most expert pilots and ace pilots operate. An argument can be made that you can prevent a lot of casualties on your side by breaking the enemy leaders and senior officers as quickly and ruthlessly as possible. That partially happened during the latest battle of the expeditionary fleet. Saint Stark, Saint General Ark and Venerable Joshua successively struck down three orven lesser phase lords. That broke the backs of the orven troops and caused them to withdraw without caring about their original objectives."

From what he heard, the dramatic loss of those orven phase lords generated a lot of discontent between the alien races.

Although the orvens were not stupid enough to pull out of the grand coalition organized by the Red Cabal, the bipedal aliens certainly harbored much less trust towards their fellow aliens. Their coordination with other races had visibly deteriorated on other battlefields, thereby giving the human defenders greater opportunities than before.

"We already have enough expert pilots and ace pilots that excel at killing enemies." Casella explained. "Saint Dise will be ready to chop off phase lord limbs once she receives her upgraded First Sword. Saint Isobel can use her fire to burn down swathes of weaker enemies once she recovers and pilots the new Promethea. Joshua has gained a powerful blade that has already made him strong enough to kill a lesser phase lord with assistance. As for the good Saint General... just because I do not like his approach towards mech command does not make me blind to his effectiveness on the

battlefield."

Her eyes grew heavy when she spoke about Ark. She fully acknowledged his strength. Now that he had finally managed to overcome his bottleneck, his growth had become

unlocked.

So long as Saint General Ark remained true to himself, there should be no way for him to stagnate until he had reached the limits of his current rank!

That was not necessarily what Casella wanted to see. The Saint Commander still blamed Ark for her brother's demise, so she had a vested interest in staying ahead of

the older man.

Even if the Larkinson Clan benefited more if Ark became stronger, Casella simply

could not accept a reality where she was forced to bow her head to him due to a

disparity in strength!

She needed to become stronger and make much more significant contributions to the clan if she wanted to prove that her command style was ultimately better! "Alright." Ves eventually nodded. "We have noted your selection. We will begin to procure a stock of Dragon Scales as soon as possible. It should be fairly easy to integrate it into the mech frame as well as the Vitrix. If this works the way I think it

does, you can impart a stronger boost in physical defenses if you keep your living fey close to the Minerva. If you choose to dispatch Victrix to a more distant location, then the defensive boost will cover a greater area at the cost of lowering the magnitude. Does this sound acceptable to you, Casella?"

She thought for a moment before nodding. "I can work with these mechanics. It would

be great if I can use the Victrix to reinforce the defenses of friendly units in distant locations. The Victrix should particularly be useful when employed in indoor environments depending on how compact you can make the fey,"

"It won't be too small, Casella. The Victrix is loaded with many features, but also needs

to be robust enough to survive on the battlefield. That said, the living fey will still be a

lot more compact than a mech, so you can indeed make use of the Victrix in the manner that you have described."

The Victrix could be used to support infantry assaults or facilitate infiltrations.

Casella mentioned another point. "You have mentioned that there is a potential synergy between Dragon Scales and warships. I think that this is an idea worth exploring. When I am finally able to pilot the Minerva Mark II, I will make sure to work towards this goal. Mechs are strong, but mechs alone will not win us the war."

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