Chapter 6197 Reevaluating Priorities

Chapter 6197 Reevaluating Priorities

The classified briefing provided by Jovy and Vector truly underscored the dire state of red humanity.

The costly alien gambit to isolate Bridgehead One from the rest of human society was bound to deprive the Red Cabal of 6 powerful ancient phase whales.

However, this painful sacrifice may be worth it in the end if the native aliens manage to smash through all 5 defensive bands and take over the border regions in the next half year!

"We truly cannot afford to let the native aliens break past the defensive bands that we have built up over the years." Jovy stated in a serious tone. "There are still many fortified star systems in the zones behind the crucial border regions, but they are too scattered and not cohesive enough to form a solid defensive line. It will be too easy for the alien fleets to bypass the fortified star systems and raid the less well-defended colonies without needing to worry too much about getting flanked by human forces. We need much more time to work on our supply lines, war preparation, defensive buildup and troop mobilization outside of the border regions. If the aliens do not give us that time..."

"We collapse." Vector succinctly stated. "The aliens will be able to invade our interior with impunity, putting star systems such as New Constantinople in great peril. Our divided forces cannot effectively stop the alien fleets from advancing deeper into our space in the absence of enough fortified star systems that can act as anchor locations."

The intricacies of waging war in a completely open space environment eluded Ves. There were all kinds of complicated strategic and logistical considerations that limited how far the humans and aliens were able to push into enemy territory.

The cold hard truth was that red humanity's war preparation had ultimately been inadequate. The pressure of war was almost entirely absent in places like New Constantinople and Davute.

Many people were well aware that a war for the survival of their race was being waged, but they always assumed that they would have plenty of time to respond to the intensifying war.

The increasing likelihood that the 5 defensive bands may fall prematurely completely shattered their illusions!

This was probably why the major powers all instituted at least some form of martial law or another. It took a crisis like this to truly wake up all of the pampered people who thought that the Red War was a distant show.

"The Survivalist Faction is in the process of activating plans that are meant to accelerate the transformation of our society." Jovy continued to explain. "In the Age of Mechs, we sought to establish stability and sustainable growth most of all. The Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance worked in conjunction to lower the temperature and foster greater peace among the states. Even when states are beset by war, the vast majority of the civilian population will only lose their rights and property at most. They will still be able to survive one way or another. This is not the case in the Red War. When extinction is the price of losing, we cannot afford to be as lackadaisical about not doing our best anymore."

"So you want human civilization in the Red Ocean to transform from a civilian to a martial society... in a hurry." Ves stated. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"That is about right. It is anything but perfect, but what choice do we have? We would rather prefer to adopt the gradual approach, but the native aliens are adamant about not giving us time for our society to enter into a proper war footing. We have little choice but to ram all of the necessary legislation through and hope we do not stretch our social contract to a breaking point."

This sounded really serious. If the Survivalists weren't careful enough about this and failed to gather enough support, the Red Association may end up losing its grip on the states!

If the reforms proved to be wildly unpopular, then the mechers would go from being revered to becoming hated figures in society!

Ves didn't think it would come to that, though. The mechers have plenty of smart heads among them that could predict such an outcome. They would definitely take steps to ensure their hegemony remained intact during this hectic transition period.

"I see. I don't think the sales of my products will take a nosedive. They are still very strong products without factoring the benefits of growth. I have always tried to make their value propositions attractive right after my customers get their hands on their products."

This was because mechs was everyone's romance!

The Age of Mechs may have come to an end in the Red Ocean, but the vast majority of people were still marked by that wonderful period. Mechs played such a dominant role in their lives that the return of warships did not significantly impact the prestige of humanity's exclusive war machines.

Compared to signing up to become a faceless spacer that practically possessed no agency on a massive warship, people would rather pilot a mech and become the hero of their own story!

Even if only a fraction of mech pilots ever manage to break through and start their near-impossible journey to become a god pilot, that did not depress the enthusiasm of a lot of dreamers.

The greatest regret of norms who grew up during the Age of Mechs was that they never had a serious chance to prove themselves in this way! Their unsuitable genetic aptitude disqualified them at a young and impressionable age, causing them to bear lifelong trauma and regret of their crushed dream.

This happened so often that society already had plenty of ways to encourage the disappointed teenagers to appreciate other vocations. There was more to life than piloting mechs.

While grown ups such as Ves successfully managed to close the chapter of their childhood fantasies and embraced a different life, there were many more norms who remained unresigned to this day.

It didn't matter whether they chose to become a mech designer, a doctor, an intelligence operative or a farmer.

They only took on these jobs because they needed to make a living. Their inability to move on from their most cherished dreams caused them to show little enthusiasm in their line of work.

They were less likely to achieve success as a result. The dreamers didn't care too much about that because they all yearned to attain greatness while piloting mechs on the battlefield.

Alas, the only way these regretful norms could gain a small measure of satisfaction was to pilot virtual mechs in various simulation games.

The community for virtual mech games was enormous. It was by far the most popular game mode on the galactic net. Ves had heard about how these virtual mech enthusiasts even played pilot characters in an entire simulation of the old galaxy and more recently the new frontier!

In reality, their unqualified genetic aptitude and their lack of professional training forced them to pursue other careers.

In the virtual reality game of their choice, they could freely indulge in their desires to become a heroic mech pilot, one who skillfully outfought other rivals and proved their valor on the virtual battlefield!

How would these virtual mech fanatics react when they finally had a chance to pilot a mech for real?

What if the gaming skills they honed over decades of dedicated training in order to excel on the virtual battlefield could be directly translated to piloting an actual mech, if only one equipped with a Carmine System?

If Ves unveiled his Carmine mechs to the public, he would instantly rouse a sleeping dragon that had been lying dormant in human society in the past four centuries!