When Ves learned that his proposed changes to the Arboreal Project had elevated its priority to the point where it came under the consideration of the Grand Mender, he became both nervous and ecstatic. He did not have any unrealistic fantasies about the famous Terran Star Designer rolling up her sleeves and working to solve the many problems associated with the ambitious project. The Arboreal Project was one of Ves' most important mech design projects. It played a vital role in the progression of his design philosophy. Despite its heavy reliance on Terran biotechnology, the key elements that made the mech design project so innovative and unique still had to be based on his own contributions. The direct intervention of a Star Designer may end up doing the project a lot of good, but to the detriment of Ves. After all, if the Grand Mender utilized her vast knowledge and design capabilities to solve many different problems, then where would that leave Ves? Aside from being able to contribute to the Woodsap System, Ves could not imagine that he would be able to offer any solutions that the Star Designer already could not solve by herself. Having her take over a project that was supposed to belong to him would cause it to develop in a different direction, one that was dictated by the much more powerful mech designer as opposed to himself. Even if the Star Designer was mindful of her disproportionate impact and tried to keep her involvement to a minimum, everyone would still look up to her for leadership. This was in their nature. No one would look for Ves anymore. The presence of a Star Designer would instantly cause Ves to be reduced to a mere contributor to his own mech design project. This was why Ves did not react entirely positively to the intervention of the Grand Mender. If she was tactful enough to give Ves enough space to realize his own vision, then that would be best. A Star Designer shouldn't stoop so low that she felt the need to steal his thunder. Of course, the premise of this was that Ves could deliver on his promises. If he was able to complete his work by relying on his own efforts, then there was no need for a Star Designer to waste her time. If the Arboreal Project ever began to stall, then that might cause the Terrans to turn to a higher authority. If the Grand Mender found the project to be important enough for the Terran Alliance's strategic interests, then she may choose to intervene despite how much damage it would do to Ves' personal interests. That would be a devastating outcome to Ves. Even if the Arboreal Project ended up successful due to the timely assistance from a Star Designer, he would no longer possess a strong sense of ownership towards the outcome. Ves rubbed his face. "Since I have decided to bet big, I have to make sure I can win." Alexa was right about his inclinations. He loved to engage in high risk high reward ventures. Still, the reality was that most of the risky projects that he embarked upon in the past were not as unlikely to succeed as they appeared on the surface. Ves could usually rely on external consultants or a useful infusion of knowledge from the System to bail him out and overcome difficult bottlenecks. While there were definitely times where he relied on his own ingenuity to solve a difficult problem, he did not deny that there were occasions where he resorted to expedient means. Could he rely on that again in the Arboreal Project? Ves was not too sure. What he wanted to do clearly went beyond what anything red humanity and the native aliens had ever done. Red humanity was still new to the phase lord phenomena. The Red Collective possessed the largest amount of expertise on the human side, but Ves had received so many warning signals about the increasingly more perplexing Phase Lord Department that he did not even bother approaching it for help. As for the native aliens, the transformation of a mortal being into a phase lord was a sacred process. Every phase lord was a god to the aliens. A process that sought to transform biomechs into artificial phase lords was nothing less than sacrilege to the superstitious aliens! Therefore, neither side held all of the answers. Ves could not rely on stealing someone else's homework in order to realize his ambitious proposal. He needed to engage in original research and find a way to combine the strengths of both human and alien methods in a brand new package! "This is not going to be easy… but that is just about right." Ves grinned. Knowing that his project might receive attention from the highest level of the mech industry invigorated him even further. He did not want to disappoint a Star Designer. If he wanted to make his Arboreal Project bigger, then he should definitely do so as best as possible. Ves proceeded to spend time on fleshing out his proposal further. He revised his original draft design for the Arboreal Project and duplicated it to serve as the basis of an advanced variant. Nobody ever came up with the concept of a phase biomech as far as he could tell. This meant that he had to persuade a large number of skeptical and doubtful Terrans that it was not only possible, but that it was also worth it to realize such an extravagant creation. Ves therefore decided to call upon Vulcan's extensive comprehension of art and craftsmanship to visualize several possible forms that this phase biomech could take. He started off with a vague image of himself before cladding with organic armor plating. The distinctive texture of TE Wood made the sketch look like the concept art of a fantasy drama, so Ves quickly tried to make it look like an actual mech by adding several integrated and handheld weapon systems. Once he was done with that, he began to reproduce several versions of it but at different scales. The initial one retained the proportions of a typical mech. The next one was three times taller. The one after that grew to the size of a medium-sized juggernaut! Although the three draft designs still looked awfully similar to each other, when they were placed next to a generic first-class multipurpose mech, their visual impact became completely different! The largest version of the biomech was supposed to represent the machine in its full phase lord glory. In fact, Ves still remained doubtful whether a height of several hundred meters was able to represent the full height of a phase biomech, but he decided to be conservative in his estimates. Besides, the chosen height already looked dramatic enough. The phase biomech possessed the scale of a juggernaut, but could also fold in on itself until it has reached the standard proportions of a first-class mech. This was an important advantage! It made the phase biomechs a lot more compact when it was not in use. The Terrans would not have to use large and sluggish starships to transport any large and cumbersome war machines. They could just use a fast and convenient combat carrier to instantly drop several dozen devastating artificial phase lords in a location of their choosing! As Ves continued to touch up on the draft designs of the larger and more impressive versions of the phase biomechs, a shipwide alarm suddenly interrupted him from his current preoccupation. The voice of the Saint Commander spread across the Premier Fleet. [We have identified, selected and scouted our first target. We will be making our way over to the anti-spinward side of the Olikon Middle Zone. To be more specific, we are heading to a port system that has grown to become one of the central staging points of alien raids into the Caesarion Upper Zone. A combination of visual scouting, divination and information transmitted by surviving human guerilla forces confirm the presence of large depots and repair facilities. We also have tentative confirmation that the star system is playing host to at least 3 greater phase lords, with a larger quantity of lesser phase lords hailing from different fleets.] At least 3 greater phase lords! A typical junior ace pilot struggled to kill one, let alone push such a monstrous opponent back. However, the First Sword Mark III could not be measured by this old standard. As one of the first superdimensional ace mechs, the new machine possessed a full anti-phase lord configuration. Even if Saint Dise was not able to defeat all of those phase lords with such a massive hardware advantage, she should at least be able to retreat unhindered! Of course, there were far more enemies to worry about. Ves had participated in the design of the First Sword Mark III, so he knew quite well that it was not very good at eliminating large swarms of regular combat units, especially at ranges that fell outside of the operating distance of her sword fey. Endurance was one of the First Sword Mark III's greatest shortcomings. She could fight hard, but did not possess the staying power to maintain an active presence on a large battlefield. This upcoming battle also served as a test for the Minerva Mark II and her empowered mechs. Everyone had high expectations for the Command Field that the Saint Commander could deploy without restrictions with her new machine. However, even if Ves added in the units of the Bluejay Fleet, it still sounded like a challenge to overcome all of the enemy forces stationed in the occupied star system. After Casella Ingvar made her announcement, the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet changed course and ventured straight into the Olikon Middle Zone. The speed of the two fleets was so fast that they could potentially enter into battle as soon as three days! Of course, that was assuming that Casella wanted to take the native aliens by surprise. If the Saint Commander wanted to strike with speed, then the enemy would not have much time to prepare. Perhaps their divided command structure would cause the native aliens to spend more time arguing against each other than form a cohesive and united response. If the Larkinsons struck the enemy during this transition period, they could take advantage of the confusion of the native aliens and defeat a lot of units with much less resistance than normal! However, if Casella made the wrong judgment and threw her forces right into a prepared and fully organized line of defense, then it would become much harder for the Larkinsons to defeat the aliens and complete their mission goals. "Interesting." Ves had a decent enough understanding of the Saint Commander. He believed that she should have enough confidence in the strength of the new and improved First Sword and Minerva to opt for speed rather than caution. The latter may enable her forces to avoid a possible trap or ambush, but it would also cause them to waste a lot of time and miss valuable opportunities. This was the last thing the Premier Fleet needed! Many of the Larkinsons who joined the Premier Branch had high hopes for their military venture. They did not want to initiate a campaign with lots of momentum, only to end up cowering before their alien foes. Casella needed to achieve a strong victory against a formidable adversary in order to start their campaign on a strong footing! The morale boost from a convincing victory would be massive! "This is going to be exciting." He grinned. Ves soon thought about how he could take part in this battle. It was not in his nature to be reduced to an observer during a battle like his wife. If it was before, then Ves could still rely on his authority and leadership to issue orders and intervene whenever he wanted. Now that he was about to resign from his position as a patriarch, he feared that the Larkinsons would no longer allow him to mess around like he owned the place. That caused him to frown. "I need to find a different way to get involved. There is no way I am sitting this battle out like I am an ordinary civilian!"