The starfighters utilized by the different alien pirate forces had a long history of development. Even though the Red Ocean was home to countless alien races, many of which had risen and fallen over many eras, many of the more technology-oriented ones often came to adopt at least some variation of starfighters and warships. Just like how humanity stole much of the technological accumulation of the alien races it came into contact with, many of the indigenous civilizations of the Red Ocean had done the same with their own neighbors. This caused the level of starfighters in the Red Ocean to always grow and advance over time. There were periods of time where the development of starfighters bloomed due to their affordability and cost-effective performance against warships. Though the progression of technology in the Red Ocean had eventually swung the pendulum back on the side of warships and other large craft, that did not mean that all of the research and development poured into starfighters had become obsolete. Humanity managed to turn mechs from a relatively weak, clumsy and impractical machine into a strong, fluid and endlessly versatile combat platform! In the same way, the evolving galactic society of the Red Ocean had lifted the level of their starfighters to a height that surpassed humanity's own development of small craft before the Age of Mechs! Ves began to respect starfighters more and more as the battle raged on. The different varieties of starfighters, some of which did not perform that much worse than mechs at the same cost. However, there was a reason why most of humanity completely switched over to using mechs after the arrival of the Age of Mechs. Despite all of the complications associated with mechs such as the need for a pilot that possessed the right genetic aptitude to interface with them, the results were more than worth the additional burdens! As the Flagrant Vandal mechs easily matched the pace of the faster enemy starfighters, the latter could no longer take unscrupulous advantage of their greater mobility. Even if the Ferocious Piranha Mark III's and Stingripper Mark II's were not as heavily armed and armored as their larger counterparts, they still possessed enough power to contend against most elite starfighters! As soon as a squad of Ferocious Piranha Mark III's cleverly flanked a wing of elite starfighters from two directions, many of the alien pilots who ordinarily exhibited great skill and consciousness in battle abruptly screamed and lost control over their craft! The alien pilots who had the right to pilot the most expensive and powerful shielded starfighters were truly strong in their own field. They understood their craft well and they had polished their combat skills over many years. Years of engaging in piracy and participating in scuffles against other pirate forces had increased their ability to cope with pressure. However, none of their prior experiences could ever have prepared them to fight against the living mechs of the Larkinson Clan! The infamous Ferocious Piranha line that had already turned into a bestseller of the LMC possessed a feature that confounded many enemies, especially when they had no idea what they were facing in advance. The dual alternating suppressive glows of both Lufa and Zeigra graced the minds of the different alien pirates for the first time! Several varieties of alien screams and other signals of distress filled the cockpits of the affected starfighters! Their proud transphasic energy shields which could block nearly any kind of physical or energy attack had no means to repel the glows of living mechs in the slightest! The twin glows of the Ferocious Piranha's encountered no blockades and subjected the unshielded minds of sentient alien pilots with the abnormal calm of Lufa before switching to the the searing hot rage of Zeigra and back again! The various wings of starfighters fell apart as the uncontrolled craft wandered off in different directions. The lack of coordination and control made them easy pickings for the same light mechs that caused their pilots to become incapacitated in the first place. Though the transphasic energy shields were difficult to break for the dagger-wielding Ferocious Piranhas, as long as the alien starfighter pilots remained affected by the same glows, their craft turned into sitting ducks that could hardly fight back! Soon enough, the Ferocious Piranhas managed to strike the energy shields enough times to exhaust them. Nothing could stop the light mechs from closing in and tearing into the exposed starfighters with ease! No matter what alloys the starfighters were made out of, their resilience was significantly worse that the energy shields they used to possess. Over a hundred elite starfighters and their pilots perished in quick succession! The other elite starfighters did not have it easy either. Those that had managed to avoid getting targeted by the Ferocious Piranhas began to tussle with the other signature combat mech of the Flagrant Vandals. The Stingripper Mark II's were even faster and lighter than the Ferocious Piranhas and were armed with luminar crystal submachine guns. Normally, these small and light energy weapons shouldn't have been strong enough to pose a major threat against the elite starfighters. After all, their energy shields were all transphasic in nature, which meant their ability to resist attacks that weren't empowered by phasewater was several times greater! However, the pilots of the Stingrippers had a lot of confidence in their weapons. "Switch to disruptor beams and focus on wearing down their energy shields. Let us teach these aliens that their much-vaunted defenses are nothing in the face of our tech!" The submachine guns wielded by the Stingrippers could only accommodate three attack phase crystals as opposed to the six that were customary to more full-sized rifles. Still, three crystals offered the light harasser mechs with plenty of choice. The disruptor beam attack phase crystal always worked well against energy-based defenses. Though the elite starfighters held out a lot longer due to their incorporation of indigenous phasewater technology, the constant rain of disruptor beams steadily took their toll on the transphasic energy shields. "They've grown angry at us! Don't get hit!" The alien pilots had grown extremely angry towards the Flagrant Vandals. The ones that still maintained their wits had turned their starfighters around and tried to run down the fragile-looking light mechs that had constantly been pelting them with strange but effective disruptor beams. However, much of their shots that should have struck the Stingrippers instead went wide! The Stingrippers were highly mobile and their mech pilots were highly trained and experienced. It was relatively easy for them to evade the relatively straightforward and predictable attacks of the enemy starfighters. That wasn't all. Another nefarious influence quietly caused the alien starfighter pilots to misjudge their aim. What they didn't realize was that the Stingrippers were unconsciously messing with their perception with the help of a glow derived from Kalo! The chameleonic spiritual product was probably one of the least well-known design spirits of the Larkinson Clan, but that did not mean he was weak. Through his subtle and invisible interference, alien pilot after alien pilot began to question their own skills as their hit rate plummeted to an enormous degree. There were even pilots who never managed to hit any mech with the guns of their starfighters! No matter whether the fast and resilient starfighters were ambushed by the Ferocious Piranhas or whittled down over time by the Stingrippers, the Flagrant Vandals undoubtedly stood out in the fight against alien starfighters. Their ability to catch up to enemy starfighters and affect their pilots with their glows was nearly unsolvable to many of the alien pilots who previously relied on their combination of advantages to torment the human mech forces. Though there were certain alien races and individuals who were able to resist the suppressive glows of the Flagrant Vandals, they were way too few in number and soon fell in battle after getting surrounded by light mechs. The mech pilots of the Flagrant Vandals had no scruples about ganging up on their opponents! "Now that the most troublesome starfighters are out of the way, we can fight against their cannon fodder without as much interference as before." Only a small proportion of the alien starfighters were equipped with expensive transphasic energy shields. The vast majority of small craft were slower, cheaper and clearly not as well controlled. The barrier to entry to become a starfighter pilot was relatively low. There were no annoying prerequisites like genetic aptitude. Starfighters were also much simpler craft than mechs due to the lack of operations. Since it was relatively cheap and easy to raise a starfighter regiment, many alien pirate forces had done so but never put too much emphasis on them. Starfighters were just too fragile and many of them always ended up destroyed after a serious battle. Though the Palace of Shame turned out to host a much greater number of starfighter hangars than the humans expected, quantity alone was not enough for the aliens to overwhelm the opposing mechs. Numerous mech legions presented their own ways of resisting the attacks from the swarms of alien small craft. For example, the Living Sentinels under the leadership of Commander Casella Ingvar performed exceptionally well during this heated phase! The Rigid Walls served their purpose as space knights and resolutely blocked many of the incoming strikes with their tower shields. The Rigid Spines sheltering behind the defensive mechs were ordinarily supposed to use their spears to poke any enemies that were attempting to break through, but their usual mode of combat was invalid against their current opponent. That did not mean they were useless, though. The Living Sentinels had already practiced an alternate tactic where the spearman mechs set aside their characteristic polearms in favor of wielding the spare luminar crystal rifles that the Larkinson Army had on hand! During an earlier phase of the battle, many melee mechs had temporarily switched to luminar crystal rifles in order to put pressure on the Palace of Shame. Now that the alien forces had finally come close, those melee mechs put away the rifles and took up their trusty melee weapons again. This was not quite possible with the Living Sentinels because the mech legion's biggest shortcoming was mobility! As a more static and defense-oriented mech legion, the Living Sentinels did not have the mobility to restrain the enemy starfighters in any way. This was why the Rigid Spines were instead using their borrowed rifles to fire at the enemy small craft! The Rigid Walls had also followed suit. It was pointless for them to hold swords at this time, so they held a rifle with one of their arms and fired at the small craft with abandon. Normally, the accuracy of the Rigid Spines and the Rigid Walls should have been terrible. Neither of their models had been optimized for ranged combat. What was worse was that their pilots were all melee specialists who had never put a lot of time in improving their marksmanship. However, as the Living Sentinel mechs continued to fire their luminar crystal rifles at all of the alien starfighters, they not only attained ludicrously high hit rates, but also inflicted considerably more damage to the enemy small craft per shot! This was because Commander Casella Ingvar had commandeered all of her Living Sentinel mechs within her range. As her true resonance spread across all of the mechs and mech pilots freely opened themselves up to her influence, she split her focus and guided each and every Commandeered unit as best she could. After several years of training and exploration, her signature resonance ability was considerably more effective than before! Over a thousand melee mechs that should have ordinary performed the worst in ranged combat suddenly outperformed almost every other ranged mech aside from the Transcendent Punishers of the Eye of Ylvaine! Tens of thousands of alien small craft had already fallen before the abnormally effective rifles of the Living Sentinels! Their unceasing efforts ensured that no starfighter was able to sneak past the defensive lines that they had set. None of the alien starfighters were allowed to threaten the expeditionary fleet! "Attack the enemy fleet." Commander Casella Ingvar urged the other legion commanders as she endured the strain of Commandeering so many mech units. "We can't get bogged down here. We need to look beyond our own fight and link up with the other pioneering forces." "Commander Casella is right." General Verle said over the command channel. "Over half of the enemy small craft have already fallen, so we are no longer under as much pressure as before. It is time to finish off the remaining warships!"