Chapter 7391: Return to Yernstall The Larkinsons came up with multiple proposals on how to exchange the minor favor with the Resonance Smith, but nothing could be done unless they fulfilled their end of the deal. "These are all good ideas, but let us not be too hasty." The Saint Commander eventually declared. "We should work to integrate the subordinates and followers of the Voice of Liberty first before we can even think of scheduling an audience with His Excellency. During this time, you can continue to work on your projects and determine whether you truly need to enlist the help of a living god to overcome a bottleneck in your research. Ketis." "Yes, Casella?" The swordmaster responded with a mild frown. "Ves and Gloriana are our foremost mech designers in the clan. They have been responsible for developing many groundbreaking mech designs as well as innovative technologies. Their requests will likely take priority over yours for at least two reasons. First, their requests are more directly tied to the mechs that we rely so heavily upon. Second, their projects more likely involve higher-level problems, which are more difficult to solve by relying on the means we have at hand. Unless your proposal can offer greater value to the clan, we have little choice but to prioritize our more immediate needs." Though Ketis did not look happy to hear this, she appreciated that the Saint Commander provided an explanation. This allowed her to go back and improve her proposal. After they finished their discussion on this particular matter, they began to talk about other subjects. The big gathering loomed tall over everyone’s shoulders. The Larkinson Clan had gradually fractured and dispersed its assets over the past few years. While this allowed everyone to fight on more suitable battlefield alongside other allies, it threw away a massive advantage, which was concentration of power. Switching strategies so suddenly disrupted a lot of plans and arrangements. Casella and the administration of the clan had their hands full with planning the logistics of their upcoming convergence. The Saint Commander emphasized that they might not be able to gather all of the necessary supplies. "Red humanity’s economy has become much more volatile than before. While we enjoy priority rights among the Terrans, the reality is that they cannot divert too much high-quality materials and other supplies to their own combat units. If the supply situation remains as bad as it is today, we will not be able to punch deeply into alien space without emptying certain important stockpiles such as phasewater." Ves did not look too concerned about that. "That is... indeed a problem, but we can solve it easily enough. If we can’t buy all of our necessary supplies in friendly space, then we will just have to plunder them in hostile space. Please conduct an indepth analysis on the supply depots and repair yards that the native aliens have set up on their side of the border. As long as we orchestrate our raids well enough, we should be able to secure the supplies we need without giving the enemy an opportunity to blow it all up. If we can maintain this streak across multiple raids, then we can turn into a self-sustaining raiding fleet." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 "That is far too dangerous, Ves." Gloriana objected to this plan. "Unless we leave non-combatants such as myself and our children behind in a safe location such as Yernstall, I will never condone such a risky operation. One catastrophe will not only spell the demise of most of our first-class combat assets, but we will also lose our future!" She raised a valid concern. The risks were a lot more reasonable so long as their fleet only traveled to the border regions and no further. However, conducting a deeper strike into alien-occupied territory clearly subjected their non-combatants to much greater danger! Ves and Gloriana continued to argue over this issue. It was not so simple to dump most of the mech designers and the children in Yernstall. While Ves no longer harbored as much apprehension towards the Red Two as before, he still felt uncomfortable with the prospect of putting ’hostages’ in their care. Another reason why he felt reluctant to separate with the Design Department was that they worked a lot more effectively if they did so in a single physical location. Working by remote not only risked the possibility of leaking their trade secrets, but also introduced a lot of friction, thereby causing them to slow their pace. This was not acceptable as far as he was concerned. They were already lagging when it came to completing their current design schedule. In the end, the Miracle Couple failed to come to a consensus on this matter. Neither side wanted to budge. So they resorted to their usual means, which was to stop their unproductive argument and pick it up at a later date. They still had a bit of time before they had to make a definite decision on this matter. Perhaps other possibilities might appear that presented better options than their current choices. "Is there anything else that we need to discuss before we conclude this virtual meeting?" The projection of the Saint Commander asked. She already looked impatient to go back to her desk so that she could finish her daily paperwork. The burden of leading the Larkinson Clan had only grown since she had taken over as its matriarch. Though she did not hate the responsibilities, she could not deny that it left her with less time on piloting the Minerva Mark II. "I would like to mention something." Ketis broke the silence after a few seconds. "The Voice of Liberty may have failed to become a god, but he has successfully galvanized many mech pilots. They have become more motivated to advance their ranks after they became inspired by the late ace pilot’s defiance against his own conditions. This applies to both the senior expert pilots in our expeditionary fleet as well as dozens of god pilot candidates who have stood on the precipice for a long time." Everyone’s expression grew a little more serious after hearing this. Ves had heard a bit about these developments as well. The Voice of Liberty may have failed to achieve his primary objective, but that did not mean that he had lost completely. Invigorating the confidence of mech pilots and encouraging them to take a leap of faith could be considered his most impactful contribution to society! This was good news on the whole. Many would doubtlessly die or perish in the process, but as long as a handful of them succeeded, then that would definitely compensate for all of the losses! "I am looking forward to receiving uplifting news." The meeting ended shortly after. The escort fleet continued to traverse through more and more populated star systems. The powers-that-be had already made a greater effort to secure the locations. Not a single accident occurred before the fleet finally arrived in Yernstall proper. "Finally! We have reached our destination!" "The sooner we hand over the research specimen, the better. It is far too hot for my liking." "Damnit! I wanted to spend more time studying the samples!" Amidst all of the complaints and cries of relief, a large force formally received the research specimen. The escort fleet had successfully completed its mission, much to Ves’ relief. He immediately disbanded the combined fleet so that everyone could go their own way again. The Bluejay Fleet flew to the inner system and split up in order for numerous vessels to get serviced at different berths. Ves chose to transfer to the Armitage and stay aboard until the large vessel reached the outskirts of the Yernstall Central Star Node. A couple of dozen Ascended Giants wearily returned to the headquarters of the Phase Lord Department. They no longer possessed the enthusiasm and confidence they possessed before. The recent battles had given them all a brutal reality check. When the Dark Apostle took over Ves’ true body, he found it difficult to figure out a way to restore everyone’s confidence in a short amount of time. "Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin, sir." The Divine Harpoon told his leader. "A true soldier or warrior will not be able to win all of the time. Defeat will come sooner or later. What matters is not that they have faltered, but whether they can stand upright again. I advise you to leae the discouraged giants behind at our headquarters for the time being. I am confident that most of our boys will eventually regain their fighting spirit. If not, we can always provide a small amount of guidance." "What if there are still giants that are still wallowing in their depression?" "Then we have taken the measure of their resilience, Dark Apostle. They have proven themselves unsuitable to undertake frontline duties. We can only assign leisurely guard or garrison duties to them. Let the cowards stay in the rear." That may be the only way to get any value out of the broken giants. "We need to load a fresh batch of giants into the Armitage." The Dark Apostle stated. "We still need to find suitable battles for them, and there are no better opponents than their alien mirrors. Please take charge of the selection. We need soldiers who have not given up on themselves already." "Understood. I have already drafted a preliminary list of names. I will need to meet with every giant in person before I make the final decision." Neither Ves nor the Dark Apostle wanted the Ascended Giants to go to waste. Even if they had to coddle them, they were determined to drag the boys to the battlefield and allow them to make their own achievements! One of the most important factors that determined success and failure was gear. Though the Bluejay Fleet was still able to outfit a decent amount of giants with superdimensional gear, questions had arisen on whether they had adopted the right configurations. "Scale is the greatest advantage of our kind." The Divine Harpoon stated. "However, we have been unable to leverage this advantage to the fullest due to the limited scale of our equipment. The Ur-Titans have proven themselves to be much more effective than my Faceless Giants due to the disparity in size." "What are you suggesting?" The Dark Apostle asked. "I would like to ask you to think about overhauling our distribution of superdimensional equipment. Rather than spreading out smaller amounts of superdimensional matter over a larger group, it may be better to concentrate greater amounts among our elites. There are a number of talented Ur-Titans that have already grown to a scale of 4x or greater. Although it will take much more superdimensional alloys to clad them in proper sets of arms and armor, their combat effectiveness will likely be much greater than a squad of smaller giants." The older man raised a good point. Concentrating the best resources to the true elites would definitely make it easier for them to dominate the battlefield. However, the quantity of Ur-Titans who have reached this scale was too small for his liking. Losing a decisive numbers advantage would definitely make it more difficult to mop up sprawling battlefields. "I am not in favor of this change of strategy." The Dark Apostle eventually responded. "The operations that we have in mind will likely force us to split up our assets into many detachments. We need to be able to attack multiple planets, moons, starbases and fleets at the same time. It will be more difficult for us to do so if we only have a handful of large giants at our disposal." There were always easy targets in every enemy stronghold. Sending multiple squads of weaker but still formidable Ascended Giants to clean them up was an easy way for them to gain easy victories and build up their confidence over time. The Divine Harpoon understood his superior’s considerations. "Very well. If you do not find the tradeoffs acceptable, then we will adhere to our established methods."