The Mech Touch

"You're not pulling another prank on me, are you?" Ves suspiciously asked. "Please tell me that the Gemini Family doesn't exist. Please tell me that there isn't an entire group out there where brothers and sisters happily form new couples while producing twin siblings that grow up to form the next generation of couples."

Calabast chuckled as she kept stroking Arnold's back.

"I am being serious, Ves. You can look it up on the galactic net if you need confirmation. Humanity is incredibly diverse and space is big enough to offer room for all kinds of peoples and ideologies. I can tell you that the Gemini Family is not the only organization that has institutionalized inbreeding. As I have already said, technology has broken down the rationale for many taboos a long time ago. The main reason why most humans still cling on to them is because society is lagging behind."

Though her initial reaction to the Gemini Family was not that much better, her training and her experiences quickly allowed her to move past her instinctive feelings of disgust and rejection.

Ves apparently had more trouble with trying to adapt to this strange family custom.

There was still a significant difference between making it feasible for close relatives to produce viable children and turning it into an acceptable social practice.

In the end, Ves let out a deep sigh and decided to adopt a tolerant attitude towards it. He was already accustomed to doing so with loathsome groups like the Hexers or difficult personalities.

His attitude towards different cultures had always been to ignore any detrimental aspects. He would rather focus on the points that could produce a basis of cooperation.

This had always worked out well for him. Over the years, much of his success was due to how he managed to bind different individuals and groups together. From securing the loyalty of alien design spirits that had little in common with humans to obtaining the loyalty of weird and different outfits such as the Swordmaidens and the Penitent Sisters, Ves had definitely become good at forming heterogeneous relationships!

There was no reason why Ves should make an exception for the Gemini Family. Clearly it was doing well if it was powerful enough to colonize its own planet in the new frontier.

As long as Ves aside the messy cultural differences and kept his focus on economic interests, there shouldn't be a problem to find common ground with the Gemini Family.

"Do you know how many pioneers the Geminis have invited to their party?"

"No, but I do not believe there will be too many participants." Calabast replied. "The Gemini Family cannot control the situation if there are too many strongmen in one location."

"Do you know whether the Geminis contacted us for a specific reason, or did they just send out invitations to any pioneers that are in the vicinity?"

"The Gemini Family has invited our entire alliance to take part in a raid because we are close and because we possess enough strength as we have abundantly demonstrated during the Battle of Pima Prime. The demand for strong mech forces is an important indication about the opposition that the Geminis expect to face. While we presume that the alien asteroid base is situated on the Krakatoa side of the border, don't forget that the Zelmar Upper Zone is right next door. The main areas of activity of the alien pirate forces should have been the trade routes utilized by the major alien races."

Ves sat up straighter in his chair. "Wait, what?! Are you telling me these pirates are strong enough that they dare to attack first-class alien fleets?"

"Trade ships, Ves. While we have not obtained any details about the pirate forces rooted in this asteroid base, there is still an enormous difference between attacking a cargo ship and attacking a military warship or equivalent vessel. Besides, the division between classes is an artificial human construct. The indigenous aliens aren't as rigid so it is not unusual for second-class ships to mix together with first-class ships."

That did not reassure Ves so much.

"I hope that the Gemini Family and whoever else is willing to take part in this operation will first try to scout and determine the actual strength of these alien pirate forces. I may be reckless at times, but even I know better than to launch a blind raid on an enemy stronghold that has a history of challenging strong opponents!"

"You can ask all of those questions to the Geminis if our alliance agrees to take part in this operation. They would not have invited us to join the raid or even think about attacking the asteroid base themselves if the alien opposition is too insurmountable. From what we can gather, the alien warships and defenses may be strong enough to require the intervention of ace mechs, but it shouldn't require too many of them. It is important to note that the Gemini Family is also capable of fielding ace mechs."

"The Geminis have multiple ace pilots?"

Calabast grinned. "They do. The Gemini Saints are one of the most remarkable pairs of ace pilots in human space."

Ves already had a bad feeling about this. "You mean…"

"Saint Sandro Gemini is the twin brother of Saint Kaia Gemini. Simultaneously, Saint Sandro is also married to Saint Kaia. Both of them have produced multiple pairs of twins who have subsequently married each other and produced children themselves. The Gemini Saints are currently great-grandparents at this time. Imagine the amount of twin couples that they have spawned over their 150 years of life."

Calabast spoke those words as if she took pleasure in inducing discomfort in Ves.

To be honest, Ves almost felt sick after hearing how extensively the Gemini Family practiced its 'unorthodox' style of family planning.

He couldn't imagine what it would be like to study the Gemini family tree!

"At least they don't have a habit of marrying their parents to their children or something… right?"

"You don't have to worry about that particular cultural custom." The spymaster reassured him. "The Geminis care about families more than most. They would never distort marriage to such a degree. It goes against their ideology."

That sounded extremely weird considering that the Geminis have no problem turning twin siblings into married couples, but oh well.

Ves tried to do his best to push all of this strange but ultimately not so relevant marriage customs aside and focused on more important information.

"If the Gemini Family has two ace mechs at its disposal, will both of them be deployed in battle?"

"That is likely the case." Calabast said. "We have collected enough intelligence to now that the Gemini pioneering fleet is accompanied by the both of Gemini Saints. In fact, Saint Sandra Gemini and Saint Kaia Gemini are never too far apart. They have grown up together from the moment their embryos have been planted in the womb of their mother and they fought every battle as a Destiny Team."

"Destiny Team?" Ves questioned as he sensed an unusual meaning in this phrase.

"That is what they call the rare but incredibly symbolic pairing between a twin brother and sister that have both become mech pilots. This is quite a rare occurrence within the Gemini Family as the chances of both twins developing the right genetic aptitudes are fairly small."

It was like trying to win the lottery twice. Winning once was already remarkable enough, but winning it again was a lot more improbable!

While the Gemini Family might have tried their best to treat their twins as equally as possible, there were so many variables that determined the development of genetic aptitudes that even identical twins were not guaranteed to become potentates at the same time!

"I take it that there aren't a lot of Destiny Couples within the Gemini Family."

Calabast nodded. "That is correct, but each one is precious beyond belief. They enjoy a high status among the Geminis and they are known to be a lot more effective in battle. Each Destiny Couple has developed excellent teamwork and can cover each other in a battle to a near-perfect degree. Compared to the Tensars that we fought against in the previous battle, the teamwork that the Destiny Couples are capable of are on another level."

It was not difficult for Ves to believe in this claim. He could not imagine how close an emotional and maybe spiritual bond these twin pairings had developed after living intimately alongside each other for so many years.

"What about the Gemini Saints?"

"They are the apex of what Destiny Couples can produce." The leader of the Black Cats said. "Saint Sandro and Saint Kaia have fought together in numerous battles over the past century. They not only managed to survive these difficulties together, but advanced to the rank of expert pilot and ace pilot in lockstep. Their story is quite remarkable and makes for good reading material so long as you can overcome the fact that they are an incestuous couple."

"I am sure their biography has become a bestseller." Ves mildly said.

"That's an understatement."

He had actually grown extremely interested in meeting the Gemini Family and observing their couples up close. His intuition told him that their unorthodox family planning may have produced wonderful effects that were deeper and more profound than was visible on the surface.

After a bit of thought, he decided that it might be worthwhile to explore this invitation.

He clasped his fingers together. "Let me just say that I am open to cooperating with the Geminis. I'm not sure whether the Glory Seekers are willing to go along with this surprise offer, but I bet the Cross Clan will strongly be in favor of taking part in this operation. Patriarch Reginald Cross is spoiling for another fight and it will be extremely interesting for him to fight alongside several other friendly ace mechs."

"Our clan is still waiting for a response from our allies, but I do not think it will be long before we can issue a reply to the Gemini Family. We currently do not have enough details to determine whether it is safe enough for us to attack the alien asteroid base, so the Geminis must provide us with more information before we can think about committing to this attack. If the Geminis are smart enough, they will not leave us in suspension."

The deployment of not just one, but multiple pioneering fleets protected by ace mechs was a massive endeavor.

An enormous fight would ensue at an intensity that might exceed that of the Battle of Pima Prime!

While the amount of mechs involved may be a lot less, the weight of firepower and the amount of heavy combat assets may be far greater!

In the face of a fight between ace mechs and alien warships, ordinary mechs would probably be relegated to cannon fodder.

While mechs could still play a lot of useful roles in a possible assault against an alien asteroid base, quantity alone was not sufficient to carry a fight.

Only warships or assets equivalent to them could play the leading role in such an engagement.

If the Larkinson Clan received this offer a month before, then Ves would not have been inclined to accept it. The lack of heavy firepower was a severe shortcoming and battle formations alone were not enough to deal against warships, especially when distance was a big issue.

Fortunately, his clan had received an upgrade.

"The Instrument of Doom should come in handy." Ves grinned.

It was the perfect siege weapon. It had been able to penetrate through sixteen relatively small asteroids in a row during its initial test.

Whatever asteroid base the alien pirates were hiding in was probably a lot bigger and denser. It would most definitely be reinforced by all kinds of thick alloy plating and may even be covered by transphasic energy shields or similar.

Even so, as long as the Instrument of Doom struck hard and often enough, any formidable defensive measures would crumble against the Phase King's might!