The Mech Touch

Every ace mech that took part in Operation Lighthouse possessed at least one unique advantage over their peers.

This was a given. Generic ace mechs didn't exist as such average machines would be an affront to the incredible strength and determination of ace pilots.

As such, the people who employed them usually invested as much as they could to weaponize them. By equipping them with the best possible ace mechs that they could obtain within their means, the various powers gained powerful trump cards that could single-handedly turn defeats into victories!

Not only did ace mechs provide mech armies with a crushing advantage against forces that lacked such a potent asset, they also provided critical protection against opposing ace mechs.

It did not surprise Ves at all that almost all of the ace mechs so far had primarily been designed with equal mech duels in mind.

If an ace mech did not even have the chance to defeat another ace mech, then a mech force that included such a deficient machine would not even be able to protect itself against rival human forces!

Powerful mechs such as the Mars, Jedda Sandivar, the Royal Jeem and the Infinite Gear might perform well in other areas due to their specific configurations and capabilities, but each of them were primarily designed to fight against other ace mechs first.

The only possible exception was the Thunderer Mark II, but that was only because it was relatively poorly equipped to fight against ace mechs at close range.

As long as it maintained a range advantage, its prodigious firepower was probably enough to pound any opposing ace mech!

In fact, that was probably the premise of the original design of the ace heavy artillery mech years ago. The heavy commitment towards ranged firepower not only matched Saint Jelmer Osenring's specialization, but also fit with the Santana Group's so-called Many Guns Doctrine.

It was only after the opening of the Red Ocean and the introduction of phasewater technology that the paradigms had changed.

The adoption of transphasic gauss cannons may have made the Thunderer Mark II a lot more effective at punching through the formidable defenses of enemy ace mechs, but also allowed the latter to rapidly close the distance with the help of minidrive technology!

Regardless of the ability for all of these ace mechs to contend against their own kind, Ves was glad that each of them were more than competent enough to fight against alien warships.

The Mars and the Thunderer Mark II could probably bombard and overwhelm moderate warships from a distance.

The Jedda Sandivar and the Royal Jeem needed to get closer in order to leverage their capabilities the most, but they possessed unique debilitating powers that could directly reduce the performance of their opponents.

The Infinite Gear might not possess any strong advantages in battle, but its unparalleled adaptability allowed it to take on any role at any time!

"Each of the ace mechs that showed up before are all strong and special machines." Ves commented. "They all have their good points which they depend upon to dominate the opposition. However… now that the ace mechs of the Gemini Saints have shown up, I am no longer sure they're all that impressive anymore."

His wife grew irked at his remark. "Surely you are exaggerating, Ves. The ace mechs deployed by the Gemini Family are excellent technical accomplishments, but they are not noticeably superior to the other ace mechs. They are not masterworks like our Mars. They are not as fast as the Jedda Sandivar. They do not have the incredible modularity and adaptability of the Infinite Gear. Their only advantages are that their ace pilots have developed an excellent degree of cooperation and that the defensive half of the duo should be incredibly good at withstanding enemy attacks."

Ves shook his head and gestured at the large projection that displayed the two Gemini ace mechs in their full splendor.

"Don't you see? It's so obvious! It's not the tech or the design of the machines that is the most impressive part about them. It is the unprecedented union between the Gemini Saints that is the real star of the show! This is the kind of engineering that no mech designer has worked on! This is social engineering!"

When Gloriana directed her attention away from the technical aspects of the two Gemini ace mechs and tried to study their more intangible properties, her eyes slowly widened.

"Now that you mention it… I think I can see it. Their Saint Kingdoms… are not conflicting against each other. They… they have merged with each other! Despite their underlying differences, the Gemini Saints trust and love each other to such an incredible degree that their egos and wills no longer reject each other in any way. I never knew this was possible! This goes against one of your own theories, Ves!"

Ves laughed in astonishment even as he tried to process the implications of this momentous discovery.

"My theories weren't wrong, Gloriana. They were incomplete. Now that I have observed a radically different phenomenon, I can supplement my theoretical framework."

If Ves only paid attention to the Gemini ace mechs, then his wife was still correct. The design of the ace mechs were anything but revolutionary. He even believed that the designers of the two machines had attempted to play it safe.

The Embodiment of Sacrifice was the defensive side out of the pair. The ace space knight was designed with a balanced configuration in mind and did not possess any clear and obvious weaknesses aside from its meager ability to attack at range.

Other than that, the Embodiment of Sacrifice was serviceable ace mech all-considered. It possessed excellent defenses but not to the point of giving up too much mobility or offensive power.

In the hands of Saint Sandro Gemini, the Embodiment of Sacrifice gained a noble and friendly character that excelled at comforting and inspiring other nearby friendly mech pilots.

Aside from that, Ves was sure that the Embodiment of Sacrifice possessed other capabilities that he had yet to determine. The ace mech did not reveal a hint of any resonating abilities, but they were likely defensive in nature.

When Ves compared the Embodiment of Sacrifice's configuration to that of his upcoming Dullahan Project, he felt that the two shared a considerable amount of similarities, at least on a technical level.

Just like the designers of the Gemini Family's ace space knight, Ves also wanted to design a more balanced defensive mech that nonetheless possessed enough mobility to keep up with most hostile mechs and enough attack power to pose a real threat against opponents at the same level.

"Interesting."

The Embodiment of Love was the offensive half of the pair. As an ace rifleman mech, the machine piloted by Saint Kaia Gemini was also rather conservative in its design.

It was designed as a top-end version of a classic spaceborn rifleman mech. Its energy rifle was quite impressive in terms of firepower, but it was not as large, heavy and unwieldy as an energy cannon.

Saint Kaia's ace rifleman mech was also rather slim and was equipped with a good transphasic flight system, so it possessed ample enough mobility to engage in dogfights against other ace mechs.

The only obvious shortcoming of the Embodiment of Love was that its armor system did not look like it could withstand a lot of attacks, but that was a common weakness for every mech of this archetype.

Just as with the other Embodiment of Sacrifice, Ves had the feeling that the pink ace rifleman mech might be hiding a surprise or two. There was no way an ace mech could be this simple and standard.

In any case, these ace mechs were clearly designed by the same design team. Ves could tell that not only were they designed to complement each other from the start, they were also set up to enable their ace pilots to cooperate with each other to the maximum possible extent!

The reason why he was certain of the latter was because the Saint Kingdoms of the Embodiment of Sacrifice and the Embodiment of Love seamlessly merged with each other!

While Ves assumed that the mech designers responsible for the development of the twin machines implemented many solutions that facilitated this phenomenon, the key to making this possible was the incredible trust and love of their ace pilots!

During his visit to the Gemini Family's fleet, Ves had seen first-hand how the Gemini twins and lovers adored and understood each other to a degree that could never be matched by an ordinary married couple.

For example, Ves and Gloriana were quite intimate with each other despite their many differences because their design networks regularly brought their minds together.

Yet even then, Ves could never claim to attain perfect harmony and acceptance with his wife!

He still had too many secrets and fears that held him back from sharing everything he knew to Gloriana, let alone putting his life in her hands! She had proven herself to be rather careless with his secrets in the past, so he simply decided to never give her the chance to leak anything too devastating.

Gloriana also kept a small distance from Ves.

While he knew that Gloriana was a little bit more forthcoming about herself, she too clung tight to the core values and principles that Ves always had a problem with. She refused to turn her back to her identity as a Hexer, and so long as this was the case, it would always act as a barrier.

This was a relatively normal state among many married couples, but it didn't seem to apply to the Geminis.

Sandro and Kaia were one of the many twins that grew up alongside each other. For a long time, they loved their other halves as brother and sister and shared many happy moments together.

Once they came of age, the Gemini Family indoctrinated them into changing the way they looked at each other from siblings to their fated lovers.

While they already loved each other to a strong degree, they began to develop a different kind of love on top of that, one that made them regard their other halves as husband or wife rather than brother or sister.

The dynamics behind these changes were disturbing and complicated. Ves was sure that the psychologists of the Gemini Family could write entire books about their perverted practices, but he was only concerned about the results.

The uninterrupted chain of love maintained by the Gemini Saints had become so strong and deep over the years that it had essentially caused them to form a partial fusion with each other!

Sandro was Kaia and Kaia was Sandro. The lines between the two had become blurred because they knew and trusted each other to a level that went far beyond the norm.

Normally, their advancements through the ranks should have caused them to develop a greater sense of self and make it a lot harder for them to meld with each other. This was because a high-ranking mech pilot's extraordinary willpower possessed a strong exclusionary property that protected them from all other external influences!

This was the reason why these high-ranking mech pilots were able to repel so many powerful attacks when they resonated with their expert mechs or ace mechs!

While Saint Sandro and Saint Kaia still maintained this essential property that served as their most powerful method of protection, the difference was that they did not treat each other as an 'external influence'!

It was as if the Gemini Family had discovered a loophole and purposefully exploited it through their unorthodox family planning practices.

"This is a brilliant approach!" Ves uttered with utmost admiration!

If the Gemini Family purposely pursued this strategy with the aim of producing a magnificent pairing like the Gemini Saints, then Ves fully applauded the masterminds behind this initiative!

It was the kind of radical and unorthodox solution that could only be spawned from the mind of a true innovator!

Only the most brilliant and daring minds were willing to question assumptions, break established conventions and bull through all opposition!

"I wish I came up with such a crazy idea." Ves enviously said.