The Mech Touch

As the Geminis led Ves and his small entourage deeper into the interior of the Twin Refuge, both sides carefully scoped each other out during this interval.

Just as Ves was learning more about the Geminis by touring different sections of the voluminous flagship, the crew members along the way also paid a lot of attention to the strangers.

Ves, Minister Shederin and the handful of other Larkinsons tried to maintain a professional demeanor.

Shederin had already briefed everyone on the importance of behaving as impeccably as possible.

Nothing good would come about if they ever openly expressed their disgust or contempt at their hosts.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons why the delegation from the Larkinsons was so small was because there weren't many of them that could control their reactions!

The Larkinsons didn't want to leave anything to chance, so it was better to bring only the absolute minimum necessary to meet the Geminis for the first time.

After twenty minutes of scenic touring, the group eventually entered a large and luxurious ceremonial hall that was themed in an interesting way.

Most ceremonial halls of this kind tended to show the history and the splendor of their owners.

Here, Ves could see a lot of animated murals that were all exquisite pieces of art by themselves.

The dramatized depictions of the founders of the Gemini Family and the many twists and turns they had taken since the beginning looked both beautiful and tragic.

This group of eccentric people had known suffering and tragedy from the beginning.

Instead of succumbing to all of the stigma and rejection that they received, the Geminis endured all of the pressure and continued to fight for every scrap of dignity and power that they could obtain.

Ves admired their tenacity and their unflinching belief in their own cultural practices, even if they weren't really okay.

No wonder the Geminis eventually became strong enough to produce two powerful ace pilots!

The emergence of the Gemini Saints completely changed the fortunes of the Gemini Family and allowed it to receive a lot of breathing room for the first time!

With few people daring to provoke two ace pilots at once, the Geminis could finally begin to command respect from others, if only reluctantly!

Nowadays, the Geminis were thriving. They retained the stubbornness and unity that enabled them to endure more difficult times, but also gained the absolute strength needed to step up and elevate their family to a major power!

Ves quite liked the trajectory they followed. The successes and failures they experienced matched with the theories that guided him to lead his clan into riskier waters.

In some ways, the Gemini Family served as a model for the Larkinson Clan.

Perhaps one day the Larkinsons would also be able to produce two ace pilots from their ranks of powerful expert pilots!

As Ves continued to study the murals and other symbolic monuments of the Geminis, he found it a bit strange that there weren't any members of the family in the hall at this time.

Other delegations had arrived first instead. The different groups who originated from different pioneering fleets all beheld each other. They exhibited both curiosity and cautious vigilance towards their potential coalition partners.

Ves nodded respectfully to the delegates of the Adelaide Mercenary Company.

They stood apart from the rest due to their acquired combativeness.

It was easy to figure them out. Each of Adelaides were warriors who had shed blood and witnessed death in battle. Their experiences marked their minds and spirits in ways that only those who lived through the same sort of traumas could recognize from each other.

The Adelaides for their part silently reciprocated the friendly gesture. They also recognized that the Larkinsons were of the same kind.

It was rather disappointing to see that the other delegations did not include as many soldiers or warriors in their parties.

Ves briefly studied the other delegations as well.

Some of the people sent by the Lehrer Foundation possessed a much quieter and more contemplative demeanor.

Ves instantly equated them to the researchers working for various development companies. The Lehrers possessed the same air of academic scholarship and passion for research. It was as if the Lehrers much preferred to spend their time in their labs rather than a diplomatic outing.

Most of the delegates of the Santana Group possessed a more proactive demeanor. They also dressed and carried themselves as successful businessmen who knew exactly how to squeeze as much short-term profits out of a company even as they hollowed out its foundation and piled it with mountains of debt.

This did not surprise Ves as the Santana Group was essentially a financial conglomerate. It was originally an investment company that slowly bought shares in different companies and acquired a lot of real estate during economic downturns when they were sold in a hurry.

All of these assets needed protection, and what better way to do so than to buy out security companies so that they could guard all of those expensive assets for a cheaper price?

This was how the Santana Group gradually built up an increasingly stronger and more expansive mech army!

Good management along with plenty of violent competition with other rivals in the business enabled its mech pilots to grow so well that one of them even became a Saint!

This was quite a rare occurrence among financial investment groups, but obviously the Santana Group had done something right.

Ves found it rather odd that a financial group would not only form a pioneering fleet and dispatch it towards the riskier parts of the new frontier, but also send out their valuable ace pilot along for the expedition.

This was not a characteristic decision for a financial conglomerate. The Santana Group risked losing what may be the most valuable asset in their portfolio if an accident ever befell their precious Saint!

There was probably more to the story than what Ves knew of the Santana Group, but it wasn't really a priority for him to get to the bottom of this story.

If everything went well, they would all just cooperate a single time before going their separate ways again. There was no compelling reason for them to keep each other company after they got what they wanted from the asteroid base raid.

The final group of delegates came from the Boojay Family.

Ves wasn't able to pin them down as easily as they consisted of a mix of different types.

Unlike the other pioneering groups, the Boojay Family was actually based in a more distant middle zone, at least as far as the intelligence showed.

Ves had no idea why the Boojay Family left their familiar haunt in the distant Greenwich Middle Zone and came all the way to the Krakatoa Middle Zone, but perhaps they were nomadic like the Larkinson Clan.

The Boojay Family delegates attracted plenty of attention due to their colorful and flowing clothing style and their tribal air. There was a sense of unity and kinship in them that Ves could respect, but they also conveyed an implicit rejection towards those that weren't a part of their family.

The Boojays would have never bothered to gather here if not for the Gemini Family's invitations.

A few more minutes passed by until the double doors at the other side of the hall finally slid open.

Two resplendently dressed twins, married of course, floated forward as they clasped their hands.

It immediately became clear that the newly arrived man and woman held a lot of authority.

Ves already recognized the middle-aged looking figures as the joint leaders of the Gemini Family.

One of the biggest reasons why Patriarch Kobal Gemini and Matriarch Sena Gemini were able to gain their positions was because their parents were the famed Gemini Saints!

As such, Kobal and Sena Gemini not only had the right to speak on behalf of the Gemini Family, but they also served as the voice of its ace pilots!

Every member of every delegation immediately became more attentive. None of them exhibited any ugly expressions that might betray what they really thought about the Geminis and their unusual family practices.

Compared to the potential to earn a massive amount of valuable loot, who cared what their main combat partner did under the bedsheets?

Just as with the delegation from the Golden Skull Alliance, none of the people dispatched by the other invited groups were average. Everyone of them possessed enough maturity and self-control to maintain a respectful and even eager posture towards the Geminis.

​ Patriarch Kobal minutely nodded in satisfaction. "Upon the moment when we have decided to gather help to assault the alien asteroid base that we have recently discovered, we have studied all of the available pioneering organizations carefully. We initially put hundreds of different groups like yours on our list, but we have steadily whittled down our selection until we were left with fifteen choices. We are pleased to see that five of you have not only expressed interest, but also took concrete action by meeting us in this star system."

"Our Gemini Family understands that you are not yet satisfied with the shallow amount of information that we were willing to share with you." Matriarch Sena Gemini continued as she squeezed the hand of her brother who was also her husband. "We are ready to provide you with additional details that will hopefully convince you that we can make immense gains as long as you join us on our endeavor."

A large projection formed in the middle of the hall that showed an abstract model of the supposed alien asteroid base.

"This is a representation of our target. We have purposefully removed many features which may give clues to where it might be located." Patriarch Kobal said. "As you can see, the asteroid where it is based is dozens of kilometers long and is rife with tunnels, local strongholds and so on. It is a complex maze and city in itself. The reason why its interior has developed in this manner is because there is no single owner of this base. It is all carved up into many different territories held by different alien pirate groups."

Ves and many others found it difficult to imagine that so many different alien forces from so many different races could get along with each other in a single site.

"Does this place have a name?" Someone from the Boojay Family inquired.

"One of the more prevalent alien races has taken to calling it the Palace of Shame when translated into standard language."

"..."

That was certainly a unique way to name a den of thieves.

Matriarch Sena Gemini offered further clarification. "It is a gathering of some of the worst criminals and outcasts of the local alien races that used to live in the surrounding regions before humanity displaced them all. Though all of these aliens are different, most of them share the concept of shame and the stigma against rule breaking behavior. Only the desperate among the indigenous aliens will take up piracy as a career. This is why their pirate base is referred to as the Palace of Shame. It is a pirate base made strong through the plunder of many riches. It is also a place of exile where the worst individuals of their respective races have taken up residence."

There was definitely a greater story behind this so-called Palace of Shame. Even if the words did not represent the original meaning due to flaws in translation, Ves did not believe this was just an average pirate resting point that gradually grew stronger over time.

He also found it difficult to believe that the Palace of Shame lacked a strong, central authority. There was no way that so many different aliens with so many different racial and cultural customs could somehow get along with each other without starting up wars that could tear the entire asteroid base apart from the inside!

The only problem was that the Geminis were the only source of real intelligence at the moment. They could not only control and massage the information they shared to the rest, but their understanding of the Palace of Shame might not even be all that accurate!

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