The Mech Touch

Chapter 6659 The Importance of Restraint

The Carmine Revolution in the Milky Way led to enormous disruptions. The lives of virtually every human had been impacted by it one way or another.

While the lives of many people had become brighter and more colorful now that they had an opportunity to become Carmine mech pilots and wield greater personal power than ever before, the lives of many others came to a premature end!

Original humanity therefore became awfully divided over whether Ves deserved to be praised or condemned.

The Carmine Revolutionaries and other supporters praised him to the heavens. They respectfully called him the Father of Carmine Mechs and already looked forward to the release of his next Carmine mech line.

The Big Two and the Guardians of Peace predictably maligned him as the Devil Tongue. Ves Larkinson had become the model of a mech designer who possessed no ethics and recklessly broke the rules for his selfish desires!

Even if his Carmine System granted norms a benefit that no one had ever managed to provide in the past, there were much better ways to introduce it than to dump it onto the galactic mech market all at once!

Supporters and haters argued against each other nearly every day. This led to a lot of breakups in families and friendships as people who used to be close to each other found themselves at opposite ends.

Those living in Safe Zones tended to respond a lot better to Big Two propaganda and gradually started to fall in line. There were many of them that were no doubt secretly eager to pilot Auto Heretics, but they understood that uncontrolled access to them would make it much more likely that their homes would get destroyed.

Those living in the Free Zones held no goodwill towards the Big Two anymore. The 'space peasants' believed that the mechers and fleeters abandoned them. Now that they had become a lot more vulnerable than in the past, they eagerly sought protection, and piloting one of the Auto Heretics sounded like a good way to improve their security in a new and more uncertain period of time.

This turned the so-called Risk Zones into the most acute battlegrounds of the Carmine Revolution.

These were areas of relative stability where Carmine mechs made an advance, but had yet to trigger enough changes to shake off the yoke of the Big Two.

The mechers and the fleeters made a more concerted effort to maintain an active presence in the Risk Zones. The Guardians of Peace organized their own efforts to preserve as much of the old order as possible.

However, the Carmine Revolutionaries were not content with staying in the periphery of the galaxy. They sought to increase their footprint in the galactic heartland and pry

away the more prosperous territories from the established powers.

Their success was mixed. As long as they did not face highly organized opposition from the Big Two, they were usually able to use the allure of the Auto Heretic mechs to

convert lots of people into supporters or even volunteer fighters!

The biggest reason why the Carmine Revolutionaries had not been able to make as much progress as they wished was because of their inherent disorganization.

There was no single organization leading the uprising fueled by the availability of Auto Heretics.

Anyone who was willing to make a stand and publicly oppose the Big Two's regime could claim the identity of a Carmine Revolutionary.

This meant that a lot of messy people with diverse and occasionally murky origins were able to ride the wave and gain power for other purposes than just fighting for Carmine mechs.

The lack of coordination and the absence of a central authority made it difficult for the Carmine Revolutionaries to organize effective defenses or counterattacks against the Guardians of Peace.

However, their passion and enthusiasm amplified their fighting spirit and allowed them to fight a lot harder than their opponents!

This alone was not enough to overcome the problems related to coordination, but certain parties were already beginning to rectify this particular problem.

While it was nearly impossible to completely centralize all operations conducted by the Carmine Revolutionaries, certain parties in the dark were already beginning to rectify the problem.

"So it's true. The first-rate superstates are taking our side." A rebel leader said. "Which one do you come from, sir?"

The impeccably well-dressed man entering the isolated chamber with a pair of armored guards in tow.

The first-rater did not answer immediately. He instead strode towards the center and took a seat at the plain metal table. He did not show any disgust or irritation at the lack of furnishings or the slight onset of rust due to lack of maintenance.

Only after he had taken his seat did he begin to respond.

"I represent the interests of one of the numerous ancient clans of the Greater Terran United Confederation. That is all you need to know for the time being."

That was informative, but not as much as the rebel leader wanted.

It was all he could expect to get from this mysterious Terran envoy.

"Are you Terrans still trying to pretend you support the Big Two even though everyone knows that you would be the first ones to cheer their downfall?"

"All in good time, Commander Arton. The time is not right, and the consequences of taking action are much greater for our superstate. Think for a moment what will happen if the Greater Terran United Confederation and most probably the New Rubarth Empire publicly announce their withdrawal from the treaties imposed on them by the MTA and the CFA. Unlike small and scattered rebel movements such as yours, our defection and open defiance cannot possibly be allowed to take place without an immediate counterreaction from the Big Two. Declining to retaliate will truly prove to everyone that they have grown too weak and are no longer fit to reign over human civilization."

"Wait, are you truly suggesting that...."

The Terran envoy steepled his hands and nodded with a grim expression. "The MTA and the CFA will send out their warfleets. It is anyone's guess how many they will send. No matter whether their response is light or heavy, we cannot stand by and allow the mechers and fleeters intimidate us into backtracking. We will send out our own armed forces, but we expect them to be at a significant disadvantage. That will necessitate us to mobilize our strongest assets."

The rebel commander immediately understood what the Terrans and the Rubarthans had to rely upon to defend their border regions against a retaliatory attack by the Big

Two.

"God pilots."

"Not entirely, but it is an adequate answer." The envoy responded. "No one can predict what might happen at that time. The MTA alone is able to mobilize enough god pilots to outnumber the god pilots that have pledged to protect our superstate and the Rubarthan superstate. However, we believe the actual number of god pilots that the mechers can mobilize is substantially less. There are those at the top of your profession that disapprove of repressive measures, belong to a faction that is ideologically opposed to the MTA's recent policy decisions or hold sympathy for star nations that long to be

free."

That made the numbers game a lot murkier. It may be possible that very few god pilots would choose to mobilize in order to bring the first-rate superstates back into

compliance.

Many theorists believe that this may be one of the driving reasons why the MTA had yet

to mobilize its god pilots.

So long as it remained unclear how many of them supported the old order to the point where they were willing to fight to preserve it, the Carmine Revolutionaries and other opponents wouldn't be able to anticipate how much opposition they would face! Holding the god pilots back also gave the mechers who wanted to protect the old order more time to convince the less reliable powerhouses to take their side! "What if the Big Two fails to gain enough support among the god pilots?" The rebel leader curiously asked.

"Then that will not reduce the danger too much. You have to know that the CFA can

deploy an abundance of battleships. These ships may be inferior to god pilots in every way, but they can be deployed alongside friendly god pilots. So long as they enjoy enough protection from a God Kingdom, they can still play a role in a fight of this level. Other than that, the CFA can completely overwhelm our border fleets and raze our planets with brutal bombardment campaigns. Our territories are vast, so it is impossible for our limited number of god pilots to cover every border. Many lives will be lost depending on how many enemy god pilots participate and how ruthless they can be towards their

fellow humans."

"That... that sounds far too extreme, sir."

The Terran envoy shook his head. "The Big Two are desperate. They will pay less

attention to their image and put greater emphasis on results. The fleeters will eventually turn into hypocrites and have come to resemble the enemies they once rebelled against, but their brutal campaign will effectively deter other states from declaring their own

return to nationhood."

"Shouldn't your state be strong enough to defend most of your star systems against such an offensive?" The rebel leader doubtfully asked. "There have always been rumors that you and the Rubarthans have secretly amassed a large number of warships of your own. This would be a good time to unveil them and show that the Big Two are not the only ones who have them anymore."

"Even if we did build a secret armada of armed starships, we will never expose them so easily. As I have said, there are many complicated political considerations that we need to take into account. The wrong decisions can easily plunge this entire galaxy into all-out warfare and ultimately lead to the downfall of humanity as the dominant race. We cannot allow ourselves to be weakened to the point that the aliens will begin to take back the territories they once claimed as their own."

That sounded as if this standoff would continue to remain stuck in stalemate for a long

time.

The Big Two did not want to mobilize all its god pilots, fearing that much fewer than

would choose to answer the call.

The god pilots of the first-rate superstates were generally a lot more united. They would definitely fight for the independence of their Terran or Rubarthan polities.

Even so, there were far too few of them to cover enough border regions to prevent

widespread raids and incursions!

The Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire would definitely

burn as a result.

This may incense the Terran and Rubarthan god pilots and push them into fighting

harder!

Perhaps they may go on a destruction spree on their own in order to take revenge!

The humans on both sides wanted to avoid triggering such a spiral, so they were not

above making implicit agreements with their enemies.

For now, the conflicts between the two sides were mostly confined in the Risk Zones.

The combatants also only made use of mechs. The fleeters may have begun to deploy a

few warships here and there, but most of them amounted to armed scout and courier

vessels. The CFA had kept most of their cruisers and battleships at the border of human space where they could do more good.

This was especially the case when it became more important than ever for the fleeters to patrol the borders and prevent alien infiltrators from slipping inside!

The rebel leader roughly understood the reason for all of the hesitation by this time.

He never thought that the Carmine Revolution would have brought the Big Two and the first-rate superstates so close to the brink of total annihilation.

As long as either side made the wrong move, the situation could easily spiral out of

control!

Lots of people would die and a huge amount of assets would get destroyed! Warships would make a rapid return across human space as many people demandedn/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

protection against the CFA's unbridled use of its own battleships to sow death and destruction upon populated planets.

The worst consequence of all was that god pilots may end up fighting against other god

pilots!

The death of a single one already represented a massive loss to the human race. If multiple of them died, then that would directly weaken the overall strength of human civilization, thereby emboldening external enemies!

Faced with these disastrous consequences, the best decision the top players could make was to maintain restraint and allow lesser forces to wage war in their stead. The rebel leader suddenly understood his own place in the grand scheme of things.