The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7123

Chapter 7123: Too Ominous

Ves’ selection surprised the two fleeters.

Neither Astrid nor Athena Jameson expected him to pick this unusual combination.

"I can understand the reasoning behind your choices." The RF officer said while furrowing her brows. "If overlap is your greatest concern, then choosing dreadnoughts whose names and underlying approach towards combat are divergent from the Dominion of Man is an imperative. We do not have an issue with selecting the Guns of Armageddon. She is one of the favorite choices alongside the Doom of Xenus among most of my colleagues. However, the Heart of Darkness lacks far too much support. Even with your recommendation, I cannot imagine that will change."

"Why not?"

"Because the Heart of Darkness is the only dreadnought that is designed and built to play dirty." Astrid Jameson responded. "The psychic weaponry that she depends upon to drive enemies insane are highly classified, but you can easily guess that they are not based on clean human tech. The Heart of Darkness also possesses one of the least formidable offensive armaments of the different dreadnoughts, especially after the Cybers have refitted and upgraded the Dominion of Man."

"If you want direct firepower, you can already obtain it from the Guns of Armageddon." Ves pointed out. "Instead of overcommitting to a single attack method, it is better to diversify in my opinion. The Heart of Darkness works completely differently. She seeks to destroy her enemies mentally and spiritually rather than physically. I think the Guns of Armageddon is the most optimal dreadnought to employ against the native aliens due to their reliance on big warships and bigger phase leaders. The Heart of Darkness should work especially well against the mutated voribugs, including the stronger variants that have shown resistance against many extraordinary effects."

He made a good point. His selection might not be the most acceptable, but he believed that it was the most effective combination that the RF could choose from given the nature of the current external threats.

It was useless to perpetually blast so many mutated voribugs. The amount of ammunition and energy wasted on annihilating these bug swarms was incalculable. The fleeters had to employ more efficient and cost-effective means to wipe them out en masse. Ves could think of no better solution than the mysterious psychic armaments that could literally drive native aliens insane!

However, Astrid and the Red Fleet appeared much less eager to let this dark genie out of the bottle.

"The Heart of Darkness is an awful first choice." Astrid insisted to Ves. "She is a weapon of terror that is more suited to sow chaos and misery behind enemy lines than to directly confront enemies on the frontlines. She is also a vessel of revenge. If red humanity falls, the Heart of Darkness will plunge into alien space and tear apart entire alien societies before she is taken down. The Heart of Darkness has her strengths, but she is also an option of last resort. We prefer to win our battles by relying on honorable means."

Ves snorted when he heard that! "Hah! That is funny. That argument may work if we are talking about the native aliens, but not the mutated voribugs. The latter have no concept of honor or restraint. The insects do not respect treaties or any of the unwritten conventions that have mostly kept the use of weapons of mass destruction to a minimum. The bugs are driven by a single hive queen that is cruel and savage on a galactic level. You cannot stay on the high ground when fighting against this kind of adversary. The Heart of Darkness may have negative connotations, but this happens to be her strength. You do not need to treat the mutated voribugs with dignity because they are literally space vermin."

He truly believed that there was a lot of potential to convert the Heart of Darkness into a living warship.

Sure, the risks and dangers associated with her were greater, but her exotic means of attack also made her a lot more difficult and confounding to counter!

Ves fell in love with her asymmetric warfare capabilities. She Heart of Darkness may have her problematic sides, but he was confident the fleeters could keep her in check.

The converted Fire Elemental would also gain a domain that was drastically different from that of Furia. The probability that the two would overlap in any way was close to the bottom.

Though both Astrid and Athena looked swayed by his arguments, that was not enough to change the RF’s stance on the matter.

"There are other problems." Astrid said with difficulty. "Ethical problems. The birth of Furia has led to widespread consequences, though much of them are confined to the Cybernetic Empire. If we bring a new deity to life that is unequivocally a dark god, how much can we trust him or her to serve red humanity and treat us well? I cannot bring myself to believe that human faith is strong enough to keep this god honest. The deity’s entire nature is rooted in fire, evil and disorder."

"Hm, fair enough. If you are not confident in your ability to control the Heart of Darkness and her activated Spark Reactor, then I suppose that this dreadnought may not be a good selection." Ves conceded.

He personally disagreed, but the fleeters had the final word.

"If we rule out the Heart of Darkness, which dreadnought will you choose instead?"

Ves did not have to think too much to come up with an answer.

"That is a much tougher decision. The Grail of Eternity is pretty much the fleeter embodiment of support link technology. I like her concept and think she has great potential, but only if she is working alongside a large fleet. The Reign of Frost comes across as a less objectionable version of the Heart of Darkness. Her potential for crowd control against the mutated voribugs is excellent. Even if these insects are highly resistant towards extreme temperature fluctuations, I doubt they can withstand getting frozen in an instant."

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