The Mech Touch

The fleet slowed down after a time.

There were several reasons why the ships needed to move slower.

First, navigating through an asteroid belt was quite perilous to say the least. The Gemini Family and the rest of the coalition did not dare to send too many of their starships through the densest areas of the belt.

Perhaps the scouting vessels and the smaller combat carriers possessed the agility to maneuver around the floating rocks, but the biggest and slowest capital ships were not as endowed!

The journey presented an especially serious danger to the fleets with a significant number of civilian vessels. The Larkinson Clan and the Boojay Family were especially reluctant to dive into the middle of the belt for this reason.

Fortunately, the periphery of the belt was not as difficult to navigate through. Combined with the fact that the asteroids mostly followed static trajectories that could easily be mapped out in advance, none of the starships came close to colliding against anything dangerous.

Mechs were still needed to break apart or push away smaller floating rocks, but these were trivial issues.

The bigger reason why it was best for the coalition fleet to slow down was to minimize the risk of discovery as much as possible.

Though none of the coalition troops expected to be able to maintain the element of surprise, the less time they gave for their opponents to respond, the better!

"We have already detected and tampered with hundreds of listening devices in advance." Calabast reported to Ves. "The good news is that they are all rather old and simple. Machines get worn down all the time due to constant exposure to the heavy and turbulent magnetic fields and other activity generated by that big neutron star. The Gemini Family already prepared countermeasures against these devices, so our Black Cats as well as the covert operations units of the other groups have dealt with them in the best way possible. If nothing has gone wrong, these devices will continue to think that there is nothing wrong despite the fact that over a thousand human starships are flying right past their sensors."

That sounded nice, but Ves did not believe the aliens that had occupied the Palace of Shame for centuries if not longer could be fooled that easily.

They wouldn't have been able to survive for so long if their detection network could be subverted with so much ease!

"This star system is too unfriendly towards technology." Calabast stated. "The aliens do not have the wealth to invest in expensive, shielded listening devices that are much harder to deal with. It is much more economic in the long term to rely on inherently disposable detection machines. No matter whether they are based on alien programming or circuitry, their simplistic nature means that it is easy for our scientists and engineers to crack, especially if the MTA has already deciphered the relevant alien race's tech base."

"What if we're dealing with biotechnology instead?"

Calabast smirked. "We have already dealt with a number of bioconstructs. The exobiologists at the Larkinson Biotech Institute along with the biotech experts working for the other pioneering groups have already taken care of the biomachines that we have detected so far. The Santana Group owns numerous biotech companies that employ far more senior researchers than anyone else, and the Gemini Family also happens to be competent in this field due to its interest in genetics."

This was the advantage of banding together with different pioneering organizations. Their diverse competences and activities granted them advantages that provided a lot of value in the right situations.

Ves had little doubt that the Larkinson Biotech Institute would play an especially crucial role in every interaction with alien races or native exobeasts.

The Palace of Shame probably contained a lot of weirdness. It would be handy to have the relevant experts on hand to judge the value of strange alien goods.

"Do you really think the aliens haven't noticed our approach as of yet?" Ves remained skeptical. "According to the briefing given by the Geminis, the orven race has maintained a foothold in the Palace of Shame for a long time. The orvens have definitely become a part of its core power structure due to their strength and technological might. Have our scouts detected any devices that are derived from orven technology?"

Calabast's smile dropped a bit. "No. We haven't. We admit that there is a chance that the orvens have already detected our approach through the use of extremely well-hidden sensor systems, but there is nothing we can do about it. This is also why the Gemini Family doesn't want to delay too much. We need to strike before the alien pirates can prepare a more organized welcoming party for our troops."

"Then why are we slowing down?"

"Isn't the answer obvious? We should already be close to our destination. The Geminis have probably dispatched covert scouting units in advance in order to determine the current state of the Palace of Shame. Once they have received the most up-to-date information about the disposition of the alien pirate forces, we can tweak our attack plan one last time before we begin to take action."

Everything was happening a bit too fast for his liking. Ves did not feel entirely comfortable with how the initiative was being grasped by someone other than himself.

Still, that didn't entirely explain his unease. During Operation Saturday Market, he had little to no problem with letting the Hex Army take charge.

Though he didn't particularly like General Alisky Victrix, he trusted the Hexers not to screw him over.

He did not possess the same confidence in the Gemini Family. The other pioneering groups were all strangers who only cared about their own interests. They had very little reason to show any extra regard to their allies.

This was also one of the reasons why the six pioneering groups did not choose to integrate their forces tighter. They still retained their autonomy, their own chains of command and even their own areas of responsibility.

This made it difficult for them to maximize their collective strengths, but it also prevented the pioneering groups from getting into each other's way.

The Golden Skull Alliance cooperated a lot better with Task Force Fury during Operation Saturday Market. Ves missed those times, but there was nothing he could do. It was impossible for him to forge a closer bond of trust with a bunch of strangers that only decided to cooperate on a single joint operation.

A part of him even wished that he had never met the Gemini Family in the first place!

Ves and Calabast continued to talk about whether the orvens or the other aliens occupying the Palace of Shame were preparing to bolster their defenses or get ready to run away.

"We do not believe the latter case is likely." Calabast mentioned. "The alien groups have been rooted in the Palace of Shame for so long that they will not want to abandon their only stronghold so easily. Besides, where would they go? Almost every surrounding region has turned into human territory. They already missed the best window of opportunity to escape. The story given to us by the Geminis may not be accurate, but the theory that there is something about the Palace of Shame that encourages all of these pirate groups to stay behind is plausible."

Ves furrowed his brows. He was getting more and more frustrated by the looming uncertainty of this secret. Did it exist? Was it as big as the Gemini Family thought? Would the Larkinsons be able to take advantage of it? Could the aliens take it away before it fell into human hands?

All of these uncertainties made him question whether it was worthwhile for the Larkinsons to even take part in this operation.

He continually kept these doubts in his mind as the discussion slowly turned to what might happen if the temporary coalition managed to neutralize all of the enemy starships and gained control over the immediate space surrounding the Palace of Shame.

Calabast projected a three-dimensional map that resembled a highly elaborate ant nest.

"We have recently received a more detailed map of the interior of the asteroid base. As you can see, there are so many tunnels, halls and defensive strongholds that taking it over is anything but simple. While our smaller and more compact mechs can still fit into some of the more open spaces, it will take a lot of infantry to sweep the rest of the asteroid base."

That sounded both dangerous and time-consuming to Ves. He could already imagine the hard fighting that might ensue as the aliens were driven into corners.

"Can't we just blast the place open with our mechs?"

His spymaster shook her head. "You are not the first person to make this suggestion, but the Geminis and a majority of other pioneering groups have adamantly rejected this option. Demolishing the Palace of Shame not only risks destroying the primary objective of this operation, but will also lead to the destruction of a great number of other valuable goods. It is more profitable for them to send masses of relatively cheap bots and infantry soldiers inside the palace and have them do their jobs."

"Great. I hope this won't turn out to be a bloodbath."

"Our clan is a lot more optimistic about this invasion than you. This is a good opportunity for our own infantry troops to showcase their own worth. The Swordmaidens and the Heavensworders are especially eager to set foot inside a foreign space station and spill alien blood with their sharp and hungry blades. They have been training for combat for many years but rarely had the opportunity to make use of their skills in real scenarios outside of the occasional mercenary missions."

The Larkinson Clan's most prominent defenders were its many mechs and mech pilots, but they weren't the only ones that could fight.

Now that the clan had exploded in numbers, it became a lot easier to arm and train a lot of infantry soldiers.

Compared to mech pilots who needed to be paired with mechs that took up a huge amount of space and upkeep, it did not take much room or funding to raise a complete infantry regiment!

Though Ves and many other Larkinsons clearly couldn't care less about infantry, it was still an essential requirement for any organization to have a sufficient number of foot soldiers on hand.

As Ves tried to recall the details of the Larkinson Clan's infantry troops, he found that he could hardly call up any information that was current. It had been a long time since he paid attention to the state of his infantry forces.

The only exception was his honor guard. He regularly updated the powerful equipment of his closest and most important guards himself in order to ensure they were fully equipped to handle the latest threats to him and his immediate family.

"Do you think they will do alright, Calabast?"

"I cannot truly say, Ves." The woman shrugged. "My answer is irrelevant. No matter how many casualties they suffer, our infantry needs this invasion to prove that it has a reason to exist. Our footsoldiers are sick and tired of seeing our mech pilots do all of the fighting on behalf of our clan. We will most certainly attack more alien strongholds in the future, so it is best to put them to test as soon as possible. They will undoubtedly make mistakes during this operation, but they will learn from them and be better prepared next time."

This was the typical development process of a military force. The infantry forces under the command of the Larkinson Clan could only go so far by relying on training. Most of the footsoldiers were still rookies for the most part, and their growth must have plateaued due to their lack of experience.

Though Ves still didn't care too much about his infantry troops, he hoped that they would not drag his clan down when he needed them the most!