From the moment the first ace mech deployed into space and rapidly took up position above the mech forces they were associated with, many people became distracted. The mech pilots that were tasked with firing their guns at the well-shielded Palace of Shame still kept up their rate of fire for the most part, but it was obvious that they were merely pulling the trigger on autopilot. Most of their attention shifted away from the enemy so that they could study and admire all of the excellent ace mechs and the Saints who piloted them. It was as if nothing else was in their vision aside from the powerful stars that outshone everything else on the battlefield! It took a while for the mech officers to knock some sense into their subordinates. "Our ace mechs aren't here to put on a show for you! You are soldiers, not gawkers!" "Watch your aim and don't miss your shots! Focus on your aim, not on our friendlies! The ace mechs have their own responsibilities. You won't be able to help them and they will not come to your aid if you are in trouble." "The enemy aliens will be ready to launch an attack on us at any moment. Be prepared to dodge and reposition at any time!" As the soldiers largely went back to dedicating themselves to their original duties, the ace mechs that made a dramatic appearance waited to see how the aliens would respond to their appearance. So far, the Palace of Shame did not exhibit any changes. The heavy jamming and interference generated by both sides made it a lot harder to observe any noticeable differences, but so far nothing threatening had appeared. "Do these aliens know how much of a threat our ace mechs represent?" Ves questioned. "They should." Gloriana guessed. "The energy readings from all of the ace mechs are much higher than any other individual machine. Even if you leave out the resonance meter which the aliens might not possess, the energy emissions generated by mechs such as the Mars far exceed the level of small craft and have already entered into warship territory. If the aliens are clever enough, they should treat our ace mechs as miniaturized warships and form their response accordingly." Ves didn't think that the major pirate groups like the Unspoken were ignorant of the power of human ace mechs. He began to feel more and more unsettled. The longer the aliens were hiding their assets behind their transphasic energy shields and their interference fields, the more he dreaded the moment where they would finally unveil their combat assets. "Have the Geminis transmitted any new instructions as of yet? Our ace mechs shouldn't be staying idle all of this time." "Please wait, sir." It took a minute before the Geminis along with the other leaders came to a consensus about their next step forward. "Ah, we have just received another command transmission. The Geminis don't want to rush too much, sir. They intend to probe the Palace of Shame's defenses and possible responses first. All ace mechs aside from the Thunderer Mark II have been instructed to remain on standby." "What about the Thunderer Mark II?" The ace heavy artillery mech of the Santana Group had the honor of being the first of its kind to go into action. While most of the ace mechs bravely moved into open space and held their positions as if they were stars providing navigation assistance to lost travelers, the Thunderer Mark II did not follow the crowd. No matter its ability to withstand far more punishment than any other heavy artillery mech, Saint Jelmer Osenring still showed utmost respect towards his current enemies and made sure to plant his expert mech on the surface of a large and stable asteroid. Similar to many other heavy artillery mechs, the Thunderer Mark II possessed far more than a single pair of legs. It boasted eight thick and heavily-armored legs that provided the Thunderer Mark II with excellent balance, anchoring, heat transmission and more. They also enabled the Thunderer Mark II to crawl across surfaces at surprising speeds for a mech of its size and mass! The Thunderer Mark II's legs partially drilled through the surface of the asteroid. Once Saint Osenring was happy with the stability his ace mech obtained, he began to aim the weapons at his disposal towards the Palace of Shame. Ten powerful and highly advanced heavy gauss cannons shifted their angles in order to converge on a specific segmented transphasic energy shield. The selection of this specific target was not random. It just happened to be positioned at an angle where other ranged ace mechs such as the Mars could attack from their respective positions as well. The ace pilot resonated with his ace mech and more specifically the ten gauss cannons at his disposal. While the Thunderer Mark II also possessed other weapon systems such as a pair of medium positron cannons and a pair of potent plasma cannons, they excelled in different situations. For now, the ten heavy gauss cannons were enough. None of them were average weapon systems. They were specifically designed to match the Thunderer Mark II as well as the unique advantages of Saint Osenring's domain. The most important element to the weapon system was its special ammunition. The Santana Group developed special transphasic rounds that not only penetrated deeper but also propagated the shockwaves generated by Saint Osenring's true resonance at different angles! The Thunderer Mark II was equipped with dimensional magazines that contained an abundance of rounds with different damage effects. There were wider, flatter rounds that were designed to break surface armor. They did so by penetrating less but maximizing the spread of shockwaves. There were also other rounds that were designed for extreme penetration. These rounds were sharper and narrower than anything else and could pierce through many meters of solid alloy before they unloaded most of their incredible kinetic energies. Right now, Saint Osenring opted to load his physical cannons with shield bypassing rounds. These were relatively moderate projectiles that featured soft round cones and a surprising amount of clever engineering. The purpose of all of these additional complications was to ensure that the rounds bypassed energy shields as best as possible before subsequently unloading as much of their power onto physical matter. The ultimate purpose of these rounds was to destroy energy shields by attacking their source as directly as possible as opposed to wearing them down the traditional way! "Let's see whether the power of an ace mech can defeat the power of advanced alien technology." Ves whispered. Both he and his wife paid close attention to what would happen next. The effectiveness of the upcoming attacks directly influenced the human coalition's subsequent battle plans. After all, it was a lot harder to conduct a siege if their best artillery solution proved to be less than effective against the enemy's strongest defensive measure. "The Thunderer Mark II is about to open fire!" Saint Osenring truly wanted his first salvo to succeed as the Thunderer Mark II glowed with power! Soon enough, a faint but extremely far-reaching shockwave seemed to spread from the anchored ace mech and spread through everything on the battlefield! At the same time, ten powerful dark blue jets soared from the muzzles of the gauss cannons and rapidly crossed through space until they converged on the same segmented energy shield! Despite the latter's powerful transphasic properties, the gauss cannons and the special shield bypassing rounds were laced with phasewater as well, allowing them to mitigate the defensive boost. Though a considerable portion of the matter and energy of the special gauss rounds still impacted the surface of the powerful transphasic energy shield, causing it to ripple and destabilize to an extent, around 20 to 30 percent of the power of the shield bypassing rounds still managed to get through! Even if the proportions were rather low, just 20 percent of the original power of an attack launched by an ace mech and an artillery mech no less was still potent! Nothing obvious happened after the rounds managed to get through, though. "What are the results of the Thunderer Mark II's attack salvo? Has the Palace of Shame incurred any damage?" "We cannot tell, sir. Our sensors and scanners cannot pick up any clear details beyond the enemy energy shields." The destabilized energy shield soon returned to normal, which indicated that the underlying alien shield generator was still in working condition. It was probably buried deep enough to keep projecting a protective barrier without issue. Saint Osenring did not exhibit any disappointment, though. He had already prepared his Thunderer Mark II to fire another salvo of shield bypassing rounds after the first time. This was the modus operandi of a ranged mech of the Santana Group! If one attack wasn't enough, then attack another time. If two attacks weren't enough, then attack two more times. As long as there was a sufficient amount of time and resources, the mechs and the mech pilots of the Santana Group could fire their weapons all day! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚 This time, Saint Osenring changed a few settings and resonated with his ace mech in a slightly different fashion. "The Thunderer Mark II is opening fire again!" The ten powerful rounds that soared through space with incredible speed and power impacted the same segmented energy shield yet again! The difference was that the energy shield became less affected than before. It rippled a little less and did not destabilize as much anymore. This was a good sign! If the gauss rounds expended less of their power on damaging the energy shield, they would most certainly inflict more damage to anything that sheltered underneath! "Around 40 percent of the energy of the attack managed to pass through the energy shield this time! This is an impressive adaptation from Saint Osenring!" This was a solution that only a true high-end heavy artillery mech and specialized mech pilot could produce! Ves doubted that Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Mars could bypass energy shields at the same rate with their own attacks. The ARCEUS System was powerful in many ways, but it did not excel in this area. He knew that quite well considering that he was largely responsible for integrating its energy weapon modules into the design of the Mars in the first place! Gloriana threw a knowing look in his direction. "You have been obsessing so much over ranged energy weapons lately that you have forgotten that ranged physical weapons have their own advantages. It is much harder to reproduce the same effect with an energy beam." "You're right." The Thunderer Mark II's second salvo still didn't produce any obvious changes, but that was okay. Saint Osenring had already entered into a familiar routine and commanded his huge ace mech to unleash a third salvo as soon as its weapons were fully charged again! "Three…" "Four…" "Five…" "Six…" "The segmented energy shield has lost over half of its remaining integrity and power all of a sudden!" Ves perked up as the Thunderer Mark II only took a few seconds to fire its next salvo. After all of its ten gauss cannons boomed for the seventh time, the Palace of Shame exhibited an obvious change this time as Saint Osenring finally produced a concrete result! "The targeted energy shield has disappeared! A gap in energy shield coverage of roughly 0.7 square kilometers has appeared over the Palace of Shame!" Many people zoomed in on the gap and tried their best to observe the surface of the asteroid. Though the jamming still remained at least partially effective, it was clear that the seventy powerful gauss rounds launched by the Thunderer Mark II inflicted utter devastation on a part of the surface of the asteroid base! It was as if a massive earthquake had completely upended both the surface of this small section of the Palace of the Shame! Whatever was underneath did not escape the tribulations either. The shockwaves generated by all of the rounds shook and tore apart hundreds of meters worth of rock, tunnels, halls and alien machines! Evidently, these shockwaves also happened to tear apart one of the alien shield generators! "Success!" "Don't celebrate too soon! Now that the aliens have learned that they can't stall us anymore, they will most certainly respond more proactively against our aggression. They can't allow the Thunderer Mark II to strip the Palace of Shame of its defenses!"