The Mech Touch

Chapter 7124: The New Fleet

When Ves issued his initial demands regarding Aurelia’s treatment within the naval academy and Red Fleet, the lieutenant-commander eventually raised her hand.

"Stop. Please." Astrid Jameson requested. "It is clear that you have a lack of understanding how the Red Fleet operates these days. Our internal systems and culture has changed significantly since the Great Severing. Necessity has forced us to enact reforms and optimize our human resource management policies. For one, we cannot show any blatant favoritism towards any member of the RF. That applies to myself, my niece Athena over here and your daughter if she chooses to enroll in our academy."

That caused Ves to blink.

"Is it because of ARCHIE?"

Astrid nodded. "It is good that you are familiar with our most important smart AI. You are correct. ARCHIE and many other assisting smart AIs have taken over vital responsibilities, the most important of which encompasses the evaluation and allocation of personnel. In the history of the Common Fleet Alliance, decisions related to promotions and postings have always involved a large amount of lobbying, influencing, horse-trading and outright nepotism. I will not lie and state that the Jameson Spaceborn Clan has never engaged in such practices, but I do not think that anyone disagrees that such practices heavily suppress grassroots personnel."

This was not a new problem. Such phenomena took place in any organization and state, some more than others. This was simply a part of human nature. The strength of an institution and the degree of enforcement of the rules largely determined how prevalent it was for cliques and interest groups to gain special advantages over others.

Ves liked to think that the Larkinson Clan was set up to function as a meritocracy and that every worthy Larkinson received a chance to promote up the ranks, but the cold hard truth was that this was an unrealistic dream.

A hierarchy was shaped like a pyramid for a reason. There was no need to employ too many leaders, middle managers and other officers.

The competition for these positions was fierce, and those who managed to edge out their competitors might not necessarily perform any better, but they had the advantage of wealth or connections.

From what Ves understood about the Red Fleet, there was not enough combat postings based on active duty warships to go around.

The Red Fleet encompassed a large number of non-combat vessels such as transport vessels, factory ships, mobile shipyards, orbital space stations and other infrastructure.

Each of them needed to be crewed as well, but the fleeters who served on them had a much harder time earning merits, thereby hindering their promotion speeds.

As such, a lot of fleeters were willing to pull out all of the stops in order to attain a combat posting or a designated spot on a specific warship that had a history of being active and performing well for many years.

Ves attempted to play this game by requesting a favorable future combat posting for Aurelia in exchange for generous concessions.

Yet Astrid appeared completely unmoved by the offer to supply more phasewater, superdimensional matter and other goodies.

"Do not misunderstand, Professor Larkinson. We welcome your cooperation. We still want to strengthen our trade relations with your clan. However, I have an obligation to protect the integrity of our internal affairs. It is not possible to provide extra treatment to your daughter. Doing so will make it unfair to other cadets that may deserve the limited teaching resources that our academy can deliver. Only students who have earned good marks and shown good work ethic may gain access to rewards such as additional tutoring, access to more restricted courses and entering a more elite educational track."

"I... see..."

"Look on the bright side." Astrid said with a reassuring expression. "The Red Fleet will not show any favoritism, but we will not treat anyone unfairly either. Every interaction is monitored by ARCHIE or one of the other smart AIs. Certain behavior that we consider unsavory no longer takes place because those who perpetrate them will earn a negative evaluation. What I mean to say is that we may not be able to give your daughter special treatment, but none of her classmates will be able to enjoy it either. At the same time, Aurelia will not be targeted or unfairly disadvantaged in any way. She will be treated just as fairly as Athena."

The young naval cadet in question echoed this sentiment with a silent nod. She obviously agreed with her aunt.

Though this situation did not sound ideal to Ves, it was not too bad either.

He could save a lot of resources now that he knew that it was useless to bribe the fleeters to ensure that Aurelia received favorable treatment.

"Okay, I get it." He said. "I do not know ARCHIE too well, but from what I have heard and witnessed from afar, it takes its duty seriously and has done a good job of maintaining its partiality. I am still kind of surprised that you fleeters are willing to let a smart AI remain in charge of such a vitally important function of your superorganization."

"ARCHIE does not operate with impunity while its main instance resides in an inaccessible silo." The RF officer responded. "Our AI developers and computer scientists are constantly updating and improving his programming. Commodore Zonrad Reze has received multiple commendations for suggesting multiple promising upgrades and optimizations of our artificial intelligences."

"So what is the Red Fleet’s current relationship with smart AIs?"

"We believe we can coexist and work together to remove every source of darkness from our dwarf galaxy.Letting humans run the Red Fleet is unfeasible due to our enormous reliance on technology. Letting AIs run our essential systems without adequate supervision is a recipe for disaster. No. We have come to believe that we can attain the best results by working together. We have based much of our new ideology on how mech forces have come to embrace the living mechs designed by you and your Larkinsons. You have shown us all that we do not have to fear non-human intelligences so long as they are made by us and are subjected to our influence."

She truly meant what she said. Ves still found it amazing that this lady used to take the lead in attacking his living mechs!

The Fifth Enforcement Fleet under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Amelie Jameson had always been the least tolerant towards breaking taboos and embracing extraordinary phenomena.

Yet that was exactly what the fleeters under the sway of the Jamesons were doing. In the span of only a few years, they went from completely rejecting cultivation science and all of its dangerous baggage to actively embracing its benefits!

Of course, Ves knew that the fleeters truly had little choice in the matter. They had to keep up with the rapid progress that took place since the start of the Age of Dawn.

Ves leaned forward and stared into Astrid’s eyes. "If you guys can give enough assurances that Aurelia will be treated no worse than any other fleeter if she attends your naval academy, then I am willing to let my daughter study to become a qualified naval officer. The same must apply to her future postings if she chooses to pursue a career within the RF. While I am willing to believe in your verbal statements and promises, I would like to have it formalized in a contract."

He wanted everything to be in writing just to be sure. He could never be too careful when it came to his daughter’s future.

Although his request directly betrayed his lack of trust towards the Red Fleet, Astrid took it in stride.

"If that is what is necessary for you to believe in our systems, then that can be arranged." She said with a smile. "The Red Fleet is fair. Those who have proven themselves to be competent and ready to take on greater responsibilities will naturally receive promotions when they are ready. Fleeters who embody our ideals and propagate our values will earn greater priority than those who drag their feet or exhibit too many selfish traits."

"I understand." Ves said. "You are saying that if Aurelia wants to rise up the ranks and receive the best combat postings, she will have to earn them fair and square. I... do not have any objections to that. As long as she is given a fair stage to compete against her peers, I am confident in her abilities. What do you think, Aurelia?"

His daughter agreed with his father. "If the Red Fleet has opened up and is willing to give external personnel such as myself the same opportunities as the members of the spaceborn clans, then I have no grounds for complaints."

"Do not worry, young lady. There is not much we can do to improve your conditions, but we do have limited room for maneuver." Astrid revealed. "My ancestor holds great sway over the RF and can push to implement policies that can indirectly help you. For example, she can propose the establishment of new courses where you can develop your talents better. She can also found new departments where you have more opportunities to leverage your strengths, or assign special missions to the ship you are assigned to that just happens to give you a podium to excel."

These were fairly innocent tricks that show clear bias but still fell within the revised rules of the Red Fleet.

This was why Ves did not believe that the RF had become a full meritocracy. Fleet Admiral Amelie Jameson would still do her best to give her fellow Jamesons a few more chances than others!

Of course, those Jamesons still needed to be competent enough to translate those opportunities into actual gains. If the members of this spaceborn clan had started to grow complacent, then no amount of maneuvering from the fleet admiral could help her descendants climb up the hierarchy!

As Ves and Astrid talked about the new wind blowing through the corridors of the Red Fleet, they soon touched upon a slightly sensitive topic.

"Is it possible for Aurelia to earn the qualifications to serve aboard a dreadnought and preferably a living dreadnought early in her naval career?" He asked.

That caused both Jamesons in the courtyard to frown.

"These are the most desirable postings of all." The lieutenant-commander carefully replied. "The vast majority of officers and ratings assigned to them have completed multiple tours on different warships. The spacers serving on our precious dreadnoughts cannot afford to make any mistakes. This is why they have significantly less space for young and untested trainees. It is much more prudent for recent graduates to accrue vital experience aboard other hulls. That said... what you have said is not impossible."

"Enlighten us. What conditions does Aurelia have to meet to get an early posting on a living dreadnought?"

"I cannot mention any specifics as I do not have access to this information. I can only make an educated guess. First, she needs to graduate in the top 10 or top 5 of her cohort. She must prove her intellect and her capacity to learn and apply the many lessons she has learned. Second, she needs to master one or multiple specializations that are notoriously difficult to learn. It would be best if those specializations match the strengths of the dreadnought in question. For example, if your daughter wishes to serve on the Grail of Eternity, then she should earn high marks in any courses related to support link technology."

All of that made sense. The dreadnoughts recruited their personnel based on necessity first and foremost. So long as Aurelia pursued a focused educational program and did her best to turn herself into an ideal addition to a dreadnought crew complement, then ARCHIE or another smart AI would naturally allocate her to the flagship’s personnel roster.

Of course, doing so was easier said than done. The competition for a combat posting on a dreadnought was intense!

Many intelligent fleeters fought for the same goal. They were all older than Aurelia and had spent considerably more time on strengthening their qualifications. She had her work cut out for her if she wanted to become a part of the crew of the most powerful warships of the Red Ocean one day!