"The mechers eagerly want us to switch to upgraded first-class ace mechs before carting us off to the Upper Zones, but… doing so will reduce the safety margins in star systems such as Viola Magnifica by a large extent." Saint Marissa Lewandowski warned. "That means that if the native aliens do not completely act according to plan, they may send more phase lords to this strategic location. All the troops under us stand to suffer much greater losses if that happens."
"That is a possibility that we cannot dismiss." Saint Commander Casella agreed. "In this day and age, we cannot protect and save every individual soldier no matter how extensively we try. There is an argument to be made that by removing us from their orbit, many more of them will die, but that the survivors will grow multiple times faster than now. If a handful of ace pilots and a dozen expert pilots emerge from a single battle, then suffering 50 percent losses does not necessarily represent defeat."