The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1016

"Don’t get me wrong." Ves defended himself. "You’re obviously a good mech pilot, even if you have your tutors and your rich background to thank for that. Paired with a mech that fits you like a glove, you’re able to outfight an entire mech squad by yourself. However, you enjoy a great privilege that most mech pilots or even mech champions get to enjoy."

Lord Javier understood that Ves did not mean to insult him and loosened up a bit. "Some people are born of a higher station than others. But don’t you think that I fought hard to get where I am? Mech pilots don’t become as good as me if you don’t put enough effort! I damn well deserved my custom mech! Thanks for destroying it, by the way. When the peace talks finally concludes, I’ll go back and commission another custom mech, not that I think there’s much hopes of it happening."

"Why do you say so?"

The Vesian noble gestured with his arm. "Because the Bright-Vesia Wars have repeated the same pattern for so many times it’s practically a tradition for our two states! You don’t casually interrupt a long-standing tradition. You’ll piss off a lot of people for doing so! I’ll bet there are plenty of people out there who want to stop Senator Tovar by any means possible."

"Are they really so short-sighted?" Ves frowned. "From what I hear, Senator Tovar has a very good reason for suggesting an interruption of the current war."

"A greater threat, yeah I heard. Senator Tovar informed me in person so that when I get in touch with my fellow nobles, I’ll be able to convince them of the necessity of halting the war. Well, good luck with that. With how widely our state encourages our subjects to support the war, halting it at this point will be taken as a major betrayal! It would be like putting ourselves between a crashing starship and a planet! There is too much momentum behind the war and suggesting an abrupt end to it will mark us as cowards and traitors to our respective states!"

Both the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom treated the accusations mentioned by Lord Javier very seriously. With the wars lasting four or five years on average, it was deeply taboo for anyone to advocate for peace.

Peace at this stage meant giving in to the enemy. Peace meant begging the enemy to stop the fight. Peace meant admitting that you couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to throw in the towel!

In summary, supporting peace meant harming the interests of the state at the time where it needed the support of its citizens the most!

From that perspective, Lord Javier raised a very good point. Supporters of the upcoming peace talks began with an inherent disadvantage. The inertia that took hold in both states both pushed them into continuing the same old war without any deviations!

"There will be people who question Senator Tovar’s claims?"

"You underestimate how obstinate we can be when it comes to supporting the war!" Lord Javier chuckled. "Even if the senator whipped out direct footage of an impending threat headed in the direction of our states, the warmongers will still blindly stick to their beliefs that we need to fight the good fight to the fullest! Proof can be fabricated and claims can be spun from modest facts. There is no way that those predisposed to war are ever going to seriously contemplate the possibility of peace?"

"Not even if all of the Seven Apex Races invade the Komodo Star Sector in unison?"

"They’ll keep shouting about fighting the Brighters or Vesians as the aliens come and shoot disintegration rays at them! If you know these people as well as I do, you’ll realize that the diehards among us won’t ever give in! The war is their life and their greatest obsession!"

"Is this what the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom has morphed into over the centuries?" Ves lamented. "Two conflict-driven states that are too afraid of their withdrawal symptoms as soon as their regularly-scheduled war is cut short?"

All of this sounded quite depressing to Ves. He would have thought the people in power would be wise and rational enough to set aside their interests in the war if they heard word a greater that was coming in their way. Yet according to Lord Javier, the inertia for war was so strong that it was nearly unstoppable!

"Anyway, let’s not talk about the war, Ves. That’s a headache for Senator Tovar. Anyway, you never did tell me something useful about mechs. Come now. Spill something."

Ves wracked his mind for something to say. "Well, there’s rumors in the mech industry that the next generation will see an advancement in offense over defense. Laser weapons will particularly enjoy a significant bump in effectiveness. If you want to go with the times, you should pilot a laser rifleman mech."

"No thanks." Javier lazily grinned and leaned back on his dining seat. "I like to have my cake and eat it too. I know hero mechs get a bad rap sometimes, but it’s really convenient for me to pilot a mech that’s deadly both at range and up close. I don’t like the way that mechs from third-rate states in the galactic rim are so overspecialized."

"That’s easy for you to say, scion of House Eneqqin. Most mech pilots only enjoy so much training. They also have to make do with mechs purchased from a limited budget."

"Still, it’s ridiculous that we’ve accepted that mechs are supposed to be good at one narrow role but godawful at everything else! Don’t you think it’s stupid that a big and powerful rifleman mech is deadly at range but collapses as soon as a light skirmisher runs up and stabs it with the mech equivalent of a toothpick? Isn’t it ridiculous that a heavy knight can withstand and entire mech squad’s worth of firepower but isn’t even expected to whip out a pistol to hit them back? Why can’t a mech have it both ways?!"

Ves shook his head at such talk. "It’s not that simple. Do you think we mech designers intentionally specialize mechs?"

"Why not? If you sell someone a swordsman mech, they still need to cover their ranged options. That gives you the opportunity to sell them a rifleman mech."

"Despite what you think, Lord Javier, we are not perpetrating a scam. When we design a mech, we have to make many compromises. A mech can either be good at one aspect or passable in many aspects. The only way to step out of this dichotomy is to spend an awful lot of money to design a singular mech that can do it all, but is just one machine. Would you rather have one fantastic hero mech like the Loquacious Raphael, or two full mech companies with a balanced mix of ranged and melee mechs?"