It took Ves more hours than he would have liked to resolve his conflicting feelings. He eventually concluded that he was no angel by any means. It was not his job to save every single human life, even if he or she was a member of the Larkinson Clan. Ves could no longer afford to entertain childish and naive daydreams. He needed to work within the framework of reality and accept that he could not save everyone’s lives. As much as he felt guilty about it, he could not defy the strategic decisions made by Human High Command. The inhabitants of the Middle Zones and the Lower Zones had to stay as much as possible. On the one hand, they were needed to fight back against the alien invaders as much as possible. Even if their defeat was already set in stone, a determined resistance could still inflict a lot of damage and delay the enemy’s advance. On the other hand, their deaths would ultimately contribute towards the most important ’win condition’, which was to catalyze the breakthroughs of peak ace pilots! Since many ordinary space peasants were designated as necessary sacrifices to produce this favorable outcome, the Larkinsons living among them could not avoid their own responsibilities. Why should the Larkinsons be able to get away for free while many of their peers had no choice but to fight and die? If the Larkinson Clan wanted to prove that it was dedicated towards the survival of the human race in the Red Ocean, it could not allow its own members to shirk their responsibilities and enjoy special treatment. Ves felt rather bad about letting these side branch members stay on planets that would soon become vulnerable to alien invasions. He decided that he would not stop his clan from rerouting ships to evacuate the clansmen that had the misfortune of living in the endangered zones. This conformed to the normal behavior of people. The rest of the clan remained ignorant of the true high-level strategic outlook, so there was no reason for them to believe that the Middle Zones and Lower Zones had already been abandoned by their leaders. Ves could only promise not to make use of his insider knowledge to organize a proper evacuation. This would probably lead to the deaths of a lot more clansmen than if he intervened more directly, but he was not stupid. The disclosure of so many high-level secrets by Jovy and his contacts at the Red Collective mainly served to keep him informed. The goal was to make him figure out better ways to contribute to red humanity’s survival. It would be a breach of trust if he used this insider knowledge to promote his own selfish interests over the needs of the public as a whole. There was no easy way to solve this dilemma. He could either choose to be a good ’public servant’ or a good ’clan patriarch’. He could not be good at both at the same time. Ves ultimately chose to put his trust in the HHC because the survival of human civilization ultimately trumped every other consideration. His clan might suffer greater losses in the short term, but at least there would still be a society left for them to live in. They could always rebuild what they had lost. In contrast, trying to save the lives of as many Larkinsons as possible without taking the greater strategic outlook into consideration may cause the current strategy to fail, and that would be the greatest sin that Ves could commit. "Well, the clansmen have partially chosen this life for themselves." There were many Larkinsons who possessed the foolish notion that it was better to live in a fixed location rather than take up the spaceborn life. Ves could understand the value of living in a structured environment where people were free to walk outside and make a living in an expansive community. However, he could personally never agree that this was worth sacrificing the safety granted by living on a mobile starship! From the moment the Red War took a turn for the worse for red humanity, a lot of people should have looked into selling their homes and finding a way to gain employment on a starship. If that was not possible, then they should at least find a way to emigrate to a planet that was located a lot further to the rear. Your next chapter awaits on freewebnovel Even if the expenses rose by the day due to lack of space and the deliberate conspiracy to bottle up the space peasants in the endangered zones, it was better to become poor and alive rather than the opposite! Sure, there was no need for them to relocate if the frontlines held, but who was willing to bet their lives and the lives of their family for a bet? "All these people are too irresponsible." Ves grumbled. He recognized that he was being too unfair to the space peasants. His life experience was much different from the ignorant masses. They had not suffered betrayal from the authorities who made vague and insincere promises to protect the people. They had not witnessed the eradication of all humans that remained stuck on planets assailed by genocidal aliens. The more he thought about it, the more he grew upset at this miserable situation. He felt as if there was a very great need to publish a heavily automated Carmine mech like the Auto Heretic in the Red Ocean! At least the mass proliferation of Auto Heretics would give all of the trapped civilians a much better chance of defending themselves against the incoming aliens! Yet because there were too many leaders within the Red Association and other groups that rejected the notion of allowing a mech fight on a pilot’s behalf, there was no political room for such a radical proposal! "What can I do?" He asked himself again. No clear answer came to mind, and that frustrated him to no end. A mech designer solved problems by designing mechs. Ves had solved many problems in the past this way. Instead of fighting or resorting to other methods, he instead designed a mech that met the needs of the people and changed society for the better. From the Pacifier model to the Yellow Jacket series, Ves solved problems that other mech designers failed to address. Yet in all of those cases, Ves recognized a straightforward problem and presented a simple and elegant solution that directly made it go away. This time, the problem was not so simple and clear-cut. He vaguely judged that there should be a way for a mech designer to make a difference by designing and publishing the right mech. Yet was this the right solution? "Maybe I shouldn’t think so much." He wanted to throw logic out of the window and devise a new mech based on his conflicted emotions. "This needs to be more than a pointless exercise." Ves decided to be more serious about this effort. He soon determined what theme it should be based upon. He felt the urge to design a second-class and third-class Carmine mech centered around sacrifice. As long as he was able to design a cheap mech that could be produced quickly and cheaply, a lot of trapped civilians should be able to make the last day of their lives more meaningful by making a final sacrifice. Ves soon became to visualize the performance of such a Carmine mech. His imagination generated a planet under siege by an overwhelmingly large alien fleet. Alien warships hovered over the surface and bombarded different settlements at random. Alien phasefighters escorted troop carriers down to the surface before strafing structures and humans caught in the open. Every settlement that got raided by the aliens would eventually become annihilated off the maps. The vengeful aliens did not intend to let any humans off. Even after the invaders bombarded every settlement to oblivion, they would still leave behind garrison troops to hunt down the ragged survivors that had run into the wild in order to hide. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢 Ves envisioned that many planets would suffer this kind of fate over the next months. Instead of leaving these civilians to die to superior alien numbers and firepower, why not give them the choice to make their lives a little more glorious and strike a final blow at their enemies? Ves imagined a very simple and crude Carmine. In fact, it was so simple that it was essentially shaped like a torpedo more or less. The only job of this Carmine ’mech’ was to launch from the surface and collide into anything that belonged to the aliens. Ves did not set any harsh standards when it came to the materials used to make the suicide mechs. The armor plating and the explosive payloads could consist of any materials that the locals had on hand. The locals could even recycle materials from structures or other vehicles in order to produce these suicide machines! Having learned how to design by template in the Milky Way, Ves knew that it was possible to design a single template that could quickly be derived into many different local variations. The planets in question just had to have their own mech designers who were well-informed about the availability of suitable materials. As Ves translated his whimsical idea into a slightly more serious draft design, he became increasingly more convinced that he needed to realize this product as soon as possible! Of course, he could already imagine that at least one person would not be pleased about his decision. "..." His wife frowned deeper as she studied the draft design and read through his proposal. "Ves." "Yes?" "Did we not agree that you should not spend any further time on distractions and side projects? Did we not ascertain that we need to complete the Minerva Mark II Project, the Riot Mark III Project, the Promethea Mark II Project and the Lionheart Mark II Project as soon as feasibly possible?" "That is true…" "THEN WHY ARE YOU BREAKING YOUR PROMISE?! WE HAVE MADE SUCH GOOD PROGRESS IN THE MINERVA MARK II PROJECT LATELY! WE ARE ACTUALLY WORKING AHEAD OF SCHEDULE BECAUSE OF HOW DILIGENT AND FOCUSED YOU HAVE BECOME! IF YOU START TO DIVERT YOUR TIME AND PASSION AWAY FROM OUR CURRENT PRIORITY, THEN EVERYONE WHO DEPENDS ON THE SAINT COMMANDER WILL SUFFER! ENTIRE PLANETARY POPULATIONS MIGHT GET WIPED OUT JUST BECAUSE WE FAILED TO DELIVER A WORTHY ACE MECH TO OUR GREATEST ACE COMMANDER IN TIME!" As melodramatic as Gloriana sounded, she made a valid point. Ves could not readily dismiss her arguments. "I won’t let the Minerva Mark II Project run behind schedule!" He said as he raised his palms in defense against Gloriana’s fury. "I will work extra hard to meet my commitments in your project. Most of my work in this project is already done anyway. My remaining responsibilities are not too heavy. I am confident I can handle both projects at the same time. At worst, I will cut back on my sleeping hours and temporarily spend less time with the kids." "It is times like these where it is more important than ever for us to cherish our time with our children!" Gloriana hissed. "I don’t disagree with you, honey, but my Final Glory Project is a means to give many other parents a chance to fight for the survival of their own sons and daughters. By giving them access to cheap and easily produced sacrificial mechs, they can do their part and make any alien invasion force suffer. Perhaps it might even harm their enemies heavily enough to postpone a raid. Think about it, Gloriana. This is a mech that is very much in need at this moment." "There is little about this draft design that makes me believe that it is essential." Gloriana said in a more subdued voice. "Rather than go through the effort to produce mechs that function as missiles, why not let the local factories produce actual missiles en masse? This is a much simpler and more efficient solution." "That is because the Final Glory Project is meant to enhance any payload it carries through the power of human sacrifice!" "...Huh?"