The Many Guns Doctrine adopted by the Santana Group also applied to its high-ranking mechs. Since the expert pilots working for the Santana Group advanced while they were piloting the ranged mechs of one of its security companies, all of these demigods all transitioned into piloting the expert mech versions of their former machines. Gloriana had glossed over the mediocre mechs of the Santana Group but paid close attention to their expert mechs. "The mech designers who designed those expert hybrid mechs and expert heavy artillery mechs know what they are doing." She said after a time. "It is a pity that their corporate masters have restricted them from implementing too many of their own ideas into the designs." Ves understood what she meant. The Santana Group's expert mechs all looked similar to each other. It was as if they all started off from the same standard template before subsequently being modified to fit the unique circumstances of every individual expert pilot. While this was a relatively fast, reliable and cheap approach to designing expert mechs, there was far less room for innovation, personalisation and creativity. Ves merely had to look at his own eclectic mix of expert mechs to see how much better they were. Each of his Larkinson expert mechs shared little to no resemblance to each other. They were all designed with their pilots in mind from the ground up and also incorporated unique design solutions that sometimes demanded drastic changes to an entire mech frame. The Larkinson Clan's approach towards the development of expert mechs was much costlier and more time-consuming, but everything was worth it in the end when fantastic machines like the Amaranto and the Everchanger burst with incredible power as they fully complemented the talents and fighting style of their respective expert pilots. Fortunately, the Santana Group was not completely stupid. The stronger the expert pilots, the more investment they received. The high-tier expert mechs no longer showed any signs of standardization. They were truly unique machines that only resembled the lower tier expert mechs because their pilots had already gotten used to the same style of machines. "All in all, the Santana Group is well-positioned to defeat swarms of starfighters and whittle down the defenses of smaller warships." Ves analyzed. "However, the relatively low calibers of all of their guns makes it a lot harder for them to deal effective damage to the larger warships of the alien pirate forces and the defensive installations of the Palace of Shame." In short, the Santana mechs excelled the most at bullying weaker opponents, but suffered a great disadvantage as soon as they encountered stronger individual opponents. This made Ves and many others worry because the force composition of the Santana Xenoarcheology Division Fleet did not excel at stopping breakthroughs. As long as the alien pirates were smart enough, they would gather as many ships as possible and throw them all in the direction of the Santana mech forces! Though the enormous massed firepower would mostly give the alien ships a lot of trouble, as long as the largest and most heavily armored vessels took the lead, many of the other ships would be able to escape destruction! Fortunately, the Santana Group was aware of this as well and tried its best to split up its artillery mechs so that they would fire upon any approaching enemy vessels from multiple directions. By setting up crossfire positions, the hybrid mechs and heavy artillery mechs could not only target the more vulnerable vessels in the rear, but also attack their weaker side hulls as opposed to their stronger prows. Ves could vaguely feel the moods of the Santana mech pilots as he observed their mechs through the live feeds. Vague hints of dread and resignation ran throughout their ranks. The Santana mech pilots had voluntarily applied to join the Santana Xenoarcheology Division Fleet after getting lured by higher salaries, excellent hazard pay and fantastic pensions for their families if they perished in battle. The offer seemed like an incredibly good deal at a time as the salaries for regular service was not as nearly as generous. Now that the reality of what they were being paid for began to dawn upon the mech pilots, they became considerably less enthused about their current assignments. Their professionalism, their training and the encouragement of their mech officers kept them in line. Ves believed that they would hold, but he did not expect much brilliance from their performance. They were all cogs in a giant corporate machine, nothing more and nothing less. When Ves gained a radically different impression when he looked back to his own mech legions. Pride filled his heart when he observed how each mech legion possessed its own character and how every mech pilot fought for far greater purposes than money. A new projection came to life. "Patriarch Ves, our troops and the troops of our partners are all in position." "What is the response from the Palace of Shame?" "There are many signs of activity at the alien asteroid base. We do not have a clear picture of what is taking place inside, but there are many indications that a large amount of movement is happening inside its halls. The alien pirates are mustering their personnel and readying their combat assets for a hasty deployment." "Have any of the alien pirate groups sent out their warships?" "No, sir. They have done the opposite. They have recalled all of their ships back to their respective berths at the Palace of Shame." The asteroid base was large enough to function as a small province. The abundant amount of volume and surface area enabled every major pirate group to claim their own slice of territory and build their space docks and fortifications. This caused the Palace of Shame to look like a miniature moon occupied by several rival powers. Right now, the pirate groups probably found out fairly recently that the humans had finally arrived and intended to launch an assault! When Ves studied the slightly grainy long-ranged sensor feeds showing the external activity of the Palace of Shame, he observed a clear difference in activity. The larger and more established alien forces had already organized most of their available forces. They had all found out about the impending human attack at an earlier date and began their preparations earlier. The smaller and more scattered alien pirate groups were much worse off by comparison. Starfighters and other craft chaotically launched into space while their eclectic mix of warships went online at rapidly different rates. Even now, the aliens still showed division, which said a lot about their ability to come together. Ves did not dare to underestimate them, though. Who knew what kind of powerful technologies they mastered. The temporary coalition still didn't have a good idea of what kind of weapons they needed to contend against. "It's time to address our troops." General Verle said. "We have just received word from the Gemini Family. If the aliens are not making a move, then the Geminis intend to fire the first shot. The second phase of our battle plan will commence at that point." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 Ves nodded in understanding. "I am ready." He had been waiting for this. The ensuing fight would definitely be a tough one, so he wanted to make sure that every soldier remained on the same page. He stood up and checked his appearance one last time. His Unending Regalia looked as impressive as ever. No one regarded him as a simple mech designer when he looked like he was ready to go into battle himself. A part of him found it regretful that it had been a long time since he was able to test his combat armor's defenses in a real scenario. He poured so much time and resources into its development that he felt like he had wasted much of it. He mainly used his Unending Regalia to craft a specific image of himself in front of others. He inwardly shook his head. He shouldn't be sad about this state of affairs. The lack of threat aimed at his person was a massive improvement compared to his past circumstances. He had so many protectors around him that it was far too difficult for assassins to threaten his life nowadays! As the countdown closed to zero, Ves inspected his appearance one last time before the broadcast became active. Almost every member of the Larkinson Clan watched the broadcast. Projections of Ves appeared on almost every corner of every Larkinson ship. The mech pilots also couldn't escape the broadcast as the cockpits of their mechs all displayed the feed as well. With his wife and his children staring up at him, Ves began his latest address. "My fellow Larkinsons. We have arrived on another alien battlefield." He began in a calm and steady voice. "This should be nothing new to us. What is new is that our upcoming opponents are radically different from the ones that we have fought in the past." "The scope and significance of this battle is different from all of the others that we have fought before. Unlike our last battle, we are not fighting against familiar opponents in the form of another human mech army. Unlike the Purgatory Campaign, we are not fighting against a rudimentary society of isolated alien beasts. Unlike the battle against the pakklaton refugee fleet, we are not confronting alien warships that are infested by voribugs and have already reached their limits." Ves paused for an instant. "No. Our upcoming enemies are none of that. For the first time since our arrival in the Red Ocean, we are about to confront opponents that are part of the true indigenous power structure of this dwarf galaxy." "Make no mistake. The fact that the aliens are all pirates does not detract from the fact that they make use of the same warships, the same technologies and the same battle tactics as their regular counterparts. Some pirate groups will be relatively weak because the civilizations they are part of were also fairly weak. Others will be strong enough to give all of us a lot of pressure." "No matter what, an alien is an alien. We have made enemies with each of them as soon as humanity stepped into the Red Ocean and declared it ours. By entering this battle, you will truly take part in a grander struggle. If we win, we will earn honors and recognition for contributing to the human race's eventual victory in the new frontier. If we lose, the aliens will show no mercy to us or our family. We cannot afford to lose today." Ves briefly glanced away so that he could look at his children. All of them looked awed as his father appeared greater than life at this time. He smiled and turned his head back so that he could address his audience directly again. "We have stepped up today. This marks the first time that we have left the petty infighting between human powers behind so that we can take part in a more important war. Today, we fight not just to advance the cause of our clan, but to advance the cause of the human race as a whole! For the clan!" "FOR THE CLAN!" Ves raised his fist. "For humanity!" "FOR HUMANITY!" Ves bumped his fist against his chestplate. "For Victory!" "FOR VICTORY!" The broadcast ended after that. Ves returned to his seat and tried to evaluate his own speech. His wife was the first to give her opinion. "That was rather short. I was expecting more. You always like to put on a show." "It's unnecessary." He replied while shaking his head. "Our soldiers are already in high spirits. They are far from the rabble that I have seen in the past. They only need a single push in the right direction in order for them to approach the upcoming battle with the right mindset. For this particular speech, I wanted to remind them that they are no longer fighting against familiar opponents anymore."