The Mech Touch

The Gemini leaders did not look surprised that someone eventually brought up this suspicious point.

None of the pioneering groups that they tried to invite to this party were weak, stupid or naive.

Each of them possessed long and extensive track records that proved their competence. They overcame many challenges, outsmarted numerous rivals and defeated strong opponents on the battlefield.

Some of the organizations in questions enjoyed long and storied histories that showed that they didn't easily make mistakes.

If the Gemini Family wanted to obtain their cooperation, then it had no choice but to expose at least a part of the truth about the Palace of Shame.

Patriarch Kobal first elaborated on the composition of the aliens at the asteroid base.

"You should first know that many of the current residents of the Palace of Shame originally weren't pirates at all. They were refugees who boarded ships that for one reason or another did not join the great migration, but ventured to this asteroid base instead. Maybe their ships couldn't make the journey. Maybe the alien refugees were former soldiers who wanted to take revenge against the human invaders rather than run like cowards and condemn their souls to eternal damnation."

That sounded plausible, but it was hardly enough.

"What of the orven exiles and other long-standing pirate groups? Why haven't they behaved like normal pirates and abandoned a site that would soon become surrounded by human alien colonies?"

The current information provided to them did not offer a satisfactory explanation. No matter what kind of weird culture and attitudes the aliens possessed, none of them should be suicidal to this degree!

There had to be more about the Palace of Shame and this location that compelled so many capable alien pirates into staying behind!

The two Gemini leaders exchanged glances with each other. Since the discussion had come to this point, they finally decided to reveal one of the reasons why they wanted to take the risk to break open the alien pirate base.

"The Palace of Shame… is older than you think." Matriarch Sena Gemini revealed in a soft tone. "We will not go into too much detail before you have given your answer on whether you are willing to become a part of our joint operation, but I can tell you that the Palace of Shame used to be built to serve another purpose before it was taken over by pirates and scoundrels. To be honest, we do not know for certain what the Palace of Shame contains that has convinced many powerful alien groups to stay behind and defend this site to their deaths."

That did not sound entirely credible.

Ves frowned. "So the main motivation for your Gemini Family to organize this offensive operation is to obtain possession of some sort of powerful ancient alien relic or sorts that you don't even know the details of? What if it is useless to anyone else? What if the aliens will just decide to destroy it before it can fall into the hands of humans?"

Patriarch Kobal Gemini gave a reassuring smile. "While we do not know what the Palace of Shame truly holds, we have obtained scattered clues that refer to it in allusions and other vague alien descriptions. Only the highest ranking alien leaders should know the full truth, but they have been remarkably thorough in minimizing the chances of exposure. No matter what it is, our Gemini Family is determined to take it as our own. The fact that we are willing to commit our entire fleet along with our two ace mechs should be proof of our confidence that we shall succeed."

Whatever the Palace of Shame was hiding most definitely turned the Geminis crazy. Ves could definitely believe that the Gemini Family was convinced that this was a worthwhile endeavor, but what about the other invited groups?

The delegates of the Santana Group objected the most to this idea.

"It is not polite to demand us to fight against multiple powerful alien warships only to claim the greatest prize that the Palace of Shame has to offer by yourself."

The leaders of the Gemini Family did not give in. "Our family is the one that has taken the initiative to let you take part in our joint operation. We will also be shouldering the greatest burden of defeating the opposition. There are still plenty of other spoils that you can take that will still allow you to earn a handsome profit."

"What if that is not the case?"

"Then we can make other arrangements."

"Hey, don't brush aside the matter of this ancient alien relic so quickly." A leader from the Adelaide Mercenary Company spoke up. "If whatever you are trying to take is some sort of superphasewater or a batch of powerful weapons, then we expect to receive a share of this bounty. None of the other spoils are enough to convince us to accept this job. We can easily go elsewhere and plunder phasewater and alien tech elsewhere out in the vast frontier."

"We agree."

"We appreciate your offer, but the rewards are not proportionate to the risks."

The groups began to haggle with the Geminis on the spot. No one was a fool. Even if the Gemini leaders did not mention this secret alien relic, it was doubtful whether the rest were still willing to assault such a strong alien stronghold.

Seeing that the Adelaide Mercenary Company and the Santana Group acted as if they would turn around leave as long as the Gemini Family refused to budge on this issue, Matriarch Sena Gemini eventually raised her hand.

"We are willing to give you a modest share of the top prize if possible, but we will not surrender the majority of what we are owed. We would rather abort this operation and sell the intelligence we have gathered about the Palace of Shame to a more powerful pioneering group. That will leave you with no chance to enjoy any of the secrets that this alien asteroid base has kept hidden for multiple ages."

The Geminis conveyed the meaning that it was not essential for them to attack the Palace of Shame.

If they had to give up too many concessions, then even they weren't willing to work hard anymore.

The two sides needed to find an acceptable compromise, but that was easier said than done.

"How much are you willing to give us, matriarch?"

"If the alien treasures are divisible, then we will lay claim to 80 percent of what can be taken out. The five of you can divide the remainder among yourselves. If the secret of the Palace of Shame cannot be taken away or split in such a manner, then we will compensate you appropriately with phasewater or resources."

"80 percent?! That is outright theft!"

"We should divide everything equally!"

A lot of tough bargaining took place. The Adelaides and the Santanas fought especially hard at this time as they were perhaps the greediest people in this gathering.

Minister Shederin Purnesse occasionally pitched in as well in order to make sure that the Golden Skull Alliance had a presence in the negotiations.

In the end, the give-and-take session ended in a profit split that Ves had already predicted from the beginning.

"Very well." Patriarch Kobal Gemeni spoke with a strained expression. "We shall make do with 50 percent of the most valuable alien relics. The remainder of you can divide the other half amongst yourselves. If the alien treasure is not divisible, then we will claim it and compensate for it by giving up any claim on the remaining spoils."

Neither side was happy with this split, but it was the best compromise they could reach at this time.

The Gemini Family gave the other five pioneering groups this opportunity to begin with, and also possessed the greatest combat power.

The other pioneers were relatively weaker and knew nothing about the Palace of Shame before this meeting. Their ability to contribute to the upcoming operation was not as good, so it was already fair to give them 10 percent of the greatest spoils each.

"What of the remainder of the valuables that we can obtain from the Palace of Shame?" A Santana delegate said. "Your Gemini Family has already laid claim to half of the secret heritage of the alien base, but we will not agree to surrendering 50 percent of the phasewater, salvage and other goods to you. It is impossible for us to earn a profit if that is the case."

This set off another round of negotiations. Fortunately, everyone was already fairly familiar with each other's negotiating power, priorities and positions, so they did not take too long to determine a general profit split.

"For the remainder of the spoils, the Gemini Family will make do with 1.5 shares while the remaining pioneering groups will receive 1 share each, modified by their actual contributions during the operations."

This meant that if everyone fought equally, the Golden Skull Alliance, the Adelaide Mercenary Company, the Lehrer Foundation, the Santana Group and the Boojay Family would all receive the exact same amount of spoils.

The Gemini Family was entitled to earn 50 percent more, but that was its prerogative as the initiator and leader of this operation.

In practice, the proportion of goodies that every pioneering group received would rise or fall based on their relative contributions in battle.

Those who fought harder, made more sacrifices and defeated more enemies would naturally earn a greater share of the spoils!

In order to ensure that nobody would have any disputes about whose shares should be higher, the negotiators all agreed to adhere to a standard convention.

Problems like these occurred many times throughout the history of human civilization. A lot of clever people had come together in order to hammer out detailed sets of rules and mathematical formulas that attempted to make the distribution of spoils as fair and equitable as possible.

Though no profit-sharing model was truly perfect, the ones that had been utilized by countless human groups throughout the centuries were still pretty decent!

Now that the pioneering groups managed to find common ground on the most important part of this operation, the mood in the ceremonial hall became considerably less tense.

Though they were far from forming an agreement, it was only a matter of time before the invited groups committed to the operation.

Several hours went by as the Gemini leaders continued to brief the delegates on how they planned to assault the Palace of Shame.

As an old and formidable pirate base that had existed for an unknown amount of centuries, its defenses were anything but light!

Not only did the pioneering forces had to overcome the defenses of the asteroid base itself, they also had to fight against the many pirate warships and other mobile combat assets!

Patriarch Kobal Gemini projected images of the types of warships and other dangers they would face if they assaulted the alien stronghold.

"As you can see, the design and combat power of all of these alien pirate ships vary wildly, but the majority of them aren't as intimidating as the ones that the Big Two are struggling to defeat. Some of them are figurative rust buckets while others are the equivalent of medium-sized warships, though each of them are outdated."

"Each enemy ship must be disabled." Matriarch Sena Gemini emphasized. "None should be allowed to escape because each of them might contain precious valuables such as phasewater or even the secret alien relic that we are primarily trying to obtain. In order to prevent the alien pirates from making us attack the Palace of Shame in vain, we must encircle the surrounding space and form a blockade that is effective enough to stop any escape attempts."

That… was going to be difficult. The participants needed to form a careful deployment plan in order to ensure that such an encirclement would not show any obvious weak points!

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