The Mech Touch

The abstract image of the so-called Palace of Shame might be lacking in details, but it showed a rather complete internal layout of its interior.

Ves wondered how the Gemini Family managed to obtain so much internal information. It shouldn't be possible for the Geminis to sneak human infiltrators past the Palace's formidable defenses and map out the immensely extensive interior on foot.

Even if an agent got through somehow, the pirates who should constantly be on guard against intrusion from their rivals must have the technology to detect hidden spies!

It also shouldn't be possible for the Geminis to map out the entire asteroid base by scanning at it from long range.

Any scans that were powerful enough to look past the thick exterior of the asteroid base and map out the insides to this extent should definitely be noticeable.

From the moment any scout ship attempted to perform high-powered scans on the asteroid base, the local pirate forces would definitely behave as if they were stung by bees and retaliate with overwhelming violence!

After all, no pirate wanted their secret hideout to be exposed and mapped out in its entirety!

Once Ves ruled out these possibilities, he was left with one obvious answer.

The Gemini Family captured an alien individual or an alien starship that possessed a lot of details about the Palace of Shame.

The identity of the captured subject shouldn't be minor either. Only an important element of the local alien pirate forces should contain this much information about a base of this size and complexity.

No matter how the Geminis managed to obtain and extract all of this extremely sensitive intelligence, they possessed an overwhelming information advantage that put them far ahead of the other groups invited to the party!

Combined with the fact that the Geminis was also led by two ace pilots of decent strength, they firmly grasped the initiative of this operation!

Ves understood now why the family was confident enough to invite five fairly powerful pioneering fleets to take part in their offensive operation.

As long as the Gemini Family retained both an information and power advantage, there was no way it could lose!

The Golden Skull Alliance, the Adelaide Mercenary Company, the Lehrer Foundation, the Santana Group and the Boojay Family had little choice but to act as the Gemini Family's extra muscle if they wanted to earn a share of the loot.

The two leaders of the Gemini Family evidently possessed enough confidence that their invited guests would agree to attack the alien asteroid base alongside their own forces, because they shared real information about what they might be facing.

"It is difficult to obtain current information about the composition of alien pirate groups that are either temporarily or permanently stationed at the Palace of Shame." Patriarch Kobal Gemini explained. "As you can imagine, pirates tend to be rather chaotic and inconsistent no matter whether they are human or alien. Many pirate fleets incur heavy damage that either breaks them apart or causes their remnants to be absorbed by rival fleets. What complicates the dynamic even further is the variable of race."

Matriarch Sena Gemini elegantly waved her hand, causing a projection that displayed the busts of over fifty known alien races. "Many of you may be familiar with how human pirate gangs operate on a shallow basis. One of the advantages of human pirates operating in the vast expanse of human space that we never think about is that we are all part of one race. Though we have created many other methods to divide and discriminate against each other, we are all human, and that unites us and enables us to work together even if we have little in common."

That was true. Ves had to look no further than his own clan where the honorable Larkinsons somehow managed to band together with radically different groups of people such as faithful Ylvainan worshipers, indoctrinated slave soldiers, female sword amazons, biotechnology advocates, extremely traditional swordsmen, reformed Hexer extremists, exiled diplomats and many more groups.

Though the Larkinson Clan managed to bind them together to a common identity through Goldie's Larkinson Network, many of these weird and proud people would have never gotten close if they all consisted of different alien races!

The language problem alone was a huge source of division. The differences in culture would definitely be a lot worse because of how much more alien societies diverged from each other.

Even physiological differences could become a major source of division! Many alien races evolved in planetary environments with different gravities, different air mixtures and different heat and radiation tolerances.

Trying to put them all together in a single starship or a space station for that matter was a nightmare to behold!

Ves found it difficult to imagine that the 50 alien races listed out by Matriarch Sena Gemini could all get along somehow.

"The Palace of Shame and its local pirate organizations are largely divided by race." The older woman confirmed his suspicions. Though we know that mixed groups that consist of dozens of members of different alien races exist, they are not as prevalent. The main groups that engage in piracy, smuggling, illegal production, black market operations and so on largely belong to one group or another. It makes everything easier for them and they can also specialize in jobs that their races or civilization levels are best suited to perform."

Patriarch Kobal took the word again. "No one knows for certain how many different alien races are currently represented in the Palace of Shame. The fifty that we have shown to you are always present in various quantities, but the pirate base may very well be hosting hundreds more sentient aliens from other races. We believe that this number has skyrocketed in the last decade due to the massive initial success of the Big Two's invasion of the Red Ocean. Many alien empires that used to occupy territory in the regions around us have been swept away virtually overnight. The vast majority of the alien residents have been wiped out during the conquest, but many refugees and other escapees have managed to escape the slaughter."

The people gathered in the ceremonial hall grew troubled.

"Does this mean that the Palace of Shame is filled with refugees?"

Kobal Gemini nodded. "That is so, and not all of them are the poor civilian types who don't know how to fight. The Palace of Shame has a high attraction to the underbelly of alien societies. The amount of armed and able combatants that have settled in the asteroid base had risen to an explosive degree. Though we expect intense internal contradictions to have led to massive deaths, numerous years have already passed since the Big Two's warfleets have swept across the Krakatoa Middle Zone. The internal situation should have stabilized by this time."

"Great. The Palace of Shame is better staffed and more fortified than ever." A delegate from the Adelaide Mercenary Group openly muttered. "I bet that plenty of former military forces have made their way over there. How many of their military warships are still intact and in working condition all this time?"

"We intend to go over their naval assets later." The Gemini Matriarch said. "First, let me continue to give you an overview of the most important alien races. We are aware that the current list you see before you may be overwhelming. We will only highlight the most important races that you may stumble upon."

The woman pointed at one of the projected entries. It grew in size while others shrunk and moved to the periphery.

Additional data came into view which showed the gravity levels they were comfortable with, the kind of air they liked to breathe and many other racial information.

"Let me start with the strongest though not the most numerous group. The orvens are one of the few major races that are involved in the Palace of Shame. Though the orvens are not as strong or prominent as the nunsers, puelmers, voribugs and so on, they possess their own advantages that have not only helped them maintain a strong position in the alien pirate community, but also bolster its tech and defenses to a higher level."

That was indeed a major source of concern. The major alien races of the Red Ocean were the equivalent of first-rate states in human terms. This meant that the orvens mastered a level of technology that could give the MTA and CFA a run for their money!

Before everyone's fears grew too great, Matriarch Sena made a reassuring gesture.

"The orvens should not be underestimated, but the exiled group that have taken root in the Palace of Shame are far from the most exemplary and well-equipped members of the orven race. Combined with the relative lack of high-quality materials, industrial infrastructure and so on, the pirate organization led by the orvens have degenerated over time. They even had to cannibalize their smaller warships in order to ensure that their flagship keeps functioning."

"I take it the orven warship is the greatest naval threat that we must confront if we attack the Palace of Shame." Master Benedict noted.

"You presume correctly." Matriarch Sena Gemini affirmed. "However, we cannot completely predict the reactions of every alien pirate group. Their attitudes, values and thought processes are literally inhuman. We can model their behavior based on what we generally know about their races and more specific intelligence about the pirate organizations in particular, but no one can truly say whether any pirate ship or unit will flee, self-destruct, fight to the death or simply wallow in indecision."

This was another reminder to them all that they were not fighting against a homogenous group of humans whose biological and cultural behavioral patterns were well-known to the point where advanced modeling programs could predict their reactions to certain events with a high degree of accuracy!

Were the orvens exiled to this part of the Red Ocean brave or cowardly?

Did they consider the Palace of Shame to be their only refuge or simply a temporary stopping point?

Would the orvens be willing to fight alongside pirate groups composed of different alien races?

No one could provide a definite answer to these questions. Not even the Geminis had the courage to make any solid predictions!

The people from the different delegations became more troubled. What the Geminis had mentioned did not bring them any closer to agreeing on committing to this bold and ambitious assault.

Each of them expected the alien opposition to put up stiff resistance, but they assumed they would have the situation well in hand as long as they brought enough high-end firepower.

However, none of them relished the prospect of fighting against even one first-class warship!

Ace mechs or not, the power of a warship fielded by a major alien race of the Red Ocean could destroy any pioneering fleet if left unchecked!

How many warships of this caliber were stationed at the asteroid base?

What were their conditions?

Was it possible to sabotage or disable them before the assault commenced?

As every invited delegate began to worry about the many possible setbacks that might occur, a leader from the Santana Group interrupted the presentation.

"Please excuse me, Patriarch Kobal, but before we are willing to listen any further, we need to determine whether there is any profit to be made from this attack." The business executive spoke. "We will not commit our assets to an operation that will cost us much and leave us with disappointing spoils. Even if we have obtained more than enough to compensate for our losses, it is of little use if we no longer possess the strength to protect our gains."

Both Kobal and Sena Gemini adopted an understanding expression. Neither of them displayed any impatience or annoyance at the interruption.

"We planned to address the topic of possible profits later on, but we can give you a quick summary of what you can expect to extract from the Palace of Shame and its many ships." Patriarch Kobal Gemini said. "Let us begin with the estimate of how much phasewater the alien pirates have hoarded over the years. We estimate that all of the pirate groups put together are sitting on 600 to 800 kilograms of pure phasewater."

"WHAT?!"

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