Chapter 4514: Extensive Reforms

Grand Admiral Bornine’s suggestion raised eyebrows. The man boldly declared that non-dwarven ships were worthless despite the fact that he commanded a ship that was non-dwarven. To do away with them entirely was a step further than merely calling them junk. It was a radical proposition that many of the advisers and strategists within the Central Human Command did not approve of. Yet, Rui didn’t dismiss the man’s suggestion, as extreme as it was. He could see the merit in it. This was especially the case when the ruins of the destroyed warships were bound to turn into spoils of war for the arakai, since they still retained a presence in the star system and effectively controlled it, for now. The suggestion to rely exclusively on dwarven ships had its problems, however. "Dwarven ships account for only a fraction of the total ships at human civilization’s disposal," Rui told the grand admiral with a pointed tone of voice. "In fact, they compose a smaller portion of our astronavy than the proportion of dwarves in human civilization. The rate of production of dwarven ships is also much lower than that of our mass-produced ships." Dwight frowned at those words, furrowing his bushy eyebrows. "That is because we dwarves put an inordinate amount of care into our craft. It is one reason that our ships are that much superior. We don’t treat important products as something to be mass-produced in an automated fashion." Out of all the ships in human civilization, dwarven ships had the most diversity. While they didn’t go as far as to create original unique designs for literally every single ship, each ship was still unique even if of the same design. Each ship contained the expression of whichever craftsman crafted it. "I know," Rui replied. "I’m not begrudging the slower rate of production. Just pointing out that it is a constraint that makes the Grand Admiral’s suggestion logistically untenable." Grand Admiral Bornine’s expression grew a little more thoughtful. "...Then perhaps it would be prudent to make do with fewer ships in each fleet and fewer fleets in each armada. It would be best if we minimize our reliance on human ships. Although a numeric disadvantage of such a scale is unpleasant. It is still better than the horrific losses we have suffered in this first battle." "With all due respect, Grand Admiral," one adviser decided to gently rebut the weary naval leader. "That is an untenable strategic position. We cannot inflict great damage upon our enemies if we don’t come packing with warships that can unleash devastating sieges." Grand Admiral Bornine scoffed at those words. "What devastating sieges? What great damage? Did you even watch the war and how it unfolded?" "Er, yes, of course." "Then you must have been asleep when the sieges began," the old man glared at the CHC adviser. "Our sieges did not accomplish a damn thing. They were utterly useless and were completely negated by arakaian defenses!" The man’s strong retort took the members aback, but this couldn’t be denied. The four main forms of offensive that human warships were equipped with all failed in the face of arakaian defenses. Heavy ordnance simply vaporized under the intense ionizing electromagnetic fields of the prothanite hulls. Light beams were absorbed by singularity lattice shields. Antimatter beams were deflected by electromagnetic fields. And ballistics were exploded before they could reach the Web of War. None of the human warships could inflict meaningful damage on their enemies when the latter engaged their defenses. Some of the advisers in the meeting looked like they wanted to say that countermeasures could be implemented, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say that. It was anything but certain that human civilization would be able to develop weapon systems that could overwhelm these defenses. And even if human civilization could, it would take time for these weapon systems to proliferate across the warships of humanity. "...In other words, almost all the damage inflicted upon our enemies across this entire battle was entirely thanks to the pathwalkers," Rui concluded with realization. "While the warships did do some damage initially, the arakai were quickly able to negate our more primitive systems." "That is so, Your Majesty," Grand Admiral Bornine nodded at Rui. "The pathwalkers are more crucial towards victory than any of us could have ever imagined. I had thought that warships had already become our primary weapons of defense, but that was a naive delusion. The arakai are leagues ahead of us in astronaval prowess. Without our pathwalkers, all of us would have been completely annihilated. Aside from the dwarven ships." Then again, even the dwarven ships were products of paths, so his statement was accurate even then. "We will have to reshuffle our entire approach to this war." A familiar voice drew everybody’s attention to Edward, who simply studied multiple streams of the battle footage, turning towards Rui with an unusually serious expression. "I propose that we adhere to the Grand Admiral’s suggestion. It is logical, even if difficult to stomach. We cut down on our fleet volume and specifically compose our fleets entirely of pathwalker carrier ships." That was even more extreme. Edward’s suggestion not only included the Grand Admiral’s, but it also went as far as to get rid of non-pathwalker carrier fleets. Rui already understood where the man was coming from. While dwarven ships had managed to withstand the onslaught from the Web of War, they too had failed to damage the arakai webships despite dwarven weapon systems that made similar use of the same technologies as non-dwarven ships. In other words, their offensive worth was very little. While they outperformed human ships, that wasn’t saying much because the human ships were utterly useless when it came to offense. Pathwalkers were the only forces to inflict any damage at all to the arakai ships because they could wield great power with the precision of a surgeon, targeting the components of vessels that weren’t covered in prothanite or energy shields. If they followed his suggestion, then future fleets would be whittled down to a fraction of their normal size.