The Mech Touch

It took a bit of time for the remaining two invited pioneering fleets to arrive in the star system where the Gemini Family held court.

Each of the four fleets parked well away from each other. They clearly did not trust each other well enough to move close enough to give the ace mechs hailing from the other parties to launch any surprise attacks.

In order to make sure that an ace mech did not secretly try to take them by surprise, every fleet deployed an extensive sensor and scouting network that monitored the surrounding spaces for unusual warp travel activity.

The chances that any one of the gathered groups would go on the attack against each other was slim, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The Gemini Family soon requested every group to send over representatives to discuss their proposed cooperation in person.

The Golden Skull Alliance dispatched Ves, Marshal Ariadne Wodin and Master Benedict Cortez among other people.

Patriarch Reginald Cross initially wanted to come as well, but he played an essential role in protecting the expeditionary fleet.

Now that so many ace pilots had gathered in a single star system, it became more important than ever for these powerful warriors to guard against each other!

Besides, the Geminis may be eager to cooperate with their guests, but they weren't stupid enough to allow a powerful ace mech to approach their fleet, especially at this early stage.

The ace pilots of all of the groups would have to wait a while longer before they could meet together.

The shuttles and escort mechs approaching the Gemini Fleet were heading towards the flagship situated in the center.

"What an unusual design." Ves said in an admiring tone. "These Geminis truly love to double everything up. The Twin Refuge looks as if a ship designer has mashed one fleet carrier hull against another identical hull."

The result was a broad capital ship that vaguely resembled a double-barreled gun.

Though the Twin Refuge was a lot slower and more massive than many other fleet carriers, she was able to hold 1500 mechs in total. This was an impressive capacity that even made Ves envious for a while.

"There aren't a lot of shipyards in the Red Ocean that are able and willing to construct hulls as large as this." Ves sighed as he stroked Lucky's back. "I can't imagine how much it cost the Gemini Family to commission such a large and massive fleet carrier."

"Meow." Lucky helpfully replied as he closed his eyes.

It did not take long for the delegations to arrive next to the Twin Refuge.

An extensive series of security procedures needed to happen first before the Geminis allowed the guests to come onboard their flagship.

All of this was routine and agreed upon beforehand so Ves and everyone else patiently waited for the Geminis to clear them and pass them through.

To be honest, all of these precautions were a bit overdone. None of the arrivals were insane enough to mess with a fleet that was guarded by two overprotective ace pilots.

Ves could already feel their overpowering presences from several kilometers away.

Even though the famed or infamous Gemini Saints were not in the cockpits of their ace mechs, their Saint Kingdoms still existed and formed a shell around their bodies.

They were just a lot weaker due to the lack of amplification from a compatible ace mech.

"That doesn't mean they are ineffective, though. A domain field can still produce unnatural phenomena even if the ace pilot is away from an ace mech."

What kind of changes they could make to reality heavily depended on the nature of the pilot in question.

Patriarch Reginald for example found it a lot easier to dominate the minds of strangers and 'command' them to agree to all sorts of unfavorable concessions.

Ves couldn't exactly determine what the Gemini Saints could do, but he could already get a glimpse of their domains from this distance.

He concentrated his mind and tried his best to get a sense of the two most powerful individuals in the Gemini Family.

"Well… I already suspected that they would be this close, but I never realized it could go this far."

Ves had already speculated that unusual family practices of the Gemini Family inevitably caused the twins who grew up and eventually married each other to develop a bond that was far closer and much more extensive than ordinary couples.

If one or both of the individuals in question happened to be spiritually active, then there was a great chance that they would unconsciously form a weak spiritual bond that faintly allowed them to understand the conditions of their significant others.

Of course, most people never realized what happened because they couldn't properly see, sense or develop this remarkable bond.

The Gemini Saints were different. Not only were they far closer to each other than the vast majority of other couples in human space, they were also extraordinarily powerful enough to actively strengthen their spiritual connection into a strong and unbreakable bond!

This not only allowed them to deeply understand their partner's condition at any time, but Ves speculated that they may also be able to share each other's strengths.

Ves was reminded by the way that Commander Casella Ingvar was able to lend her strength to her brother Imon Ingvar.

It was highly probable that Saint Sandro Gemini and Saint Kaia Gemini could not only lend their resources to each other, but perhaps they may have taken their cooperation a step further.

Ves had the feeling that both intimate ace pilots had invented methods that enabled them to display exceptional forms of synergy with each other!

Even when they were at rest, the powerful willpower of the Gemini Saints passively attracted each other. They harmonized and synergized with each other in patterns that were frankly beautiful to him. He had never witnessed such a deep and total trust and familiarity in any other group of people.

His imagination momentarily went wild as he began to come up with all kinds of powerful spiritual applications that could take advantage of this powerful twin bond.

"The Gemini Family is probably filled with pairings that have developed similar bonds. I can probably draw out the potential of their mech pilots as long as I design the right mechs."</>

Ves just knew in his heart that he could design mechs that could generate unsurpassed synergy if he wanted to. The rare qualities of the Gemini Family and especially its notable Destiny Teams were rough gems that were begging to be cut!

He retracted his senses and closed his eyes. "Let's not get ahead of myself. I can offer to design a mech for the Geminis if I can get along with them. If not, then I should just move on and work on other designs. I already have plenty of projects on my plate."

The shuttle eventually entered one of the hangar bays of the Twin Refuge.

The flagship of the Gemini Family was so enormous that it was able to receive its guests in separate hangar bays. This allowed the hosts to control the influx of people and prevent any scuffles from taking place in less than ideal conditions.

Ves looked around and took in the environment.

The Geminis were evidently fans of softer and more pastel colors. Many sharp edges and angles had been softened and rounded out in an attempt to reduce their aggressive appearance.

It made the hangar bay and presumably the rest of the interior of the Twin Refuge look like an industrial daycare facility rather than a military vessel.

"At least their mechs still look good enough." Ves muttered.

Since the Gemini Family was large and powerful enough to colonize its own planet and field its own ace mechs, it most definitely had its own mech company.

Unlike the Living Mech Corporation, Gemini Mechs was not that big of a player in the local mech industry.

It didn't really try that hard to build up a market presence, opting instead to serve the needs of the Gemini Family.

The reason for that was because anything related to the Gemini Family tended to arouse a huge degree of disgust and revulsion from ordinary people.

"Strange, that. The Hexers also suffer from the same problem."

The Gemini Family shouldn't be too short of money, though. Any group that had two ace pilots on its retainer was most definitely a force to be reckoned with in the new frontier!

Aside from that, Gemini Genetics was a much bigger economic component of the family.

Though Ves had never heard of it and the Larkinson Clan had never paid for its services, Gemini Genetics was apparently an up-and-coming genetics company that specialized in developing affordable but effective designer babies for people who want their children to gain advantages from birth.

As much as the practices of the Geminis worked against them, it was different in this case.

The genetics company that had originally been founded to perpetuate their practices seemed to gain a positive boost due to its successful track record in keeping the Geminis sane and healthy for so long!

In any case, Ves the Geminis themselves were clearly a lot more pleasant to look at than their rather safe and inspiring mech models.

Many twins and couples not only grew up and slept together, but they also studied the same courses and performed the same jobs.

It was rather odd to see the sheer amount of Geminis performing the exact same jobs as their twins and spouses.

"Everything comes in twos."

Two mech technicians serviced the same part of the same mechs.

Two engineers performed routine maintenance on a power duct underneath the deck of the hangar bay.

Two mech pilots were gaming out their exclusive battle tactics that they intended to employ at the right moments in the upcoming operation.

Every couple looked remarkably similar to each other. Though they undoubtedly possessed the distinct features that were characteristic to males and females, they often exhibited the same hair color, the same eye color, the same facial structure, the same musculature levels and more.

Fortunately, the Geminis still put at least some effort into distinguishing the twin couples from each other. Every pairing featured a different set of external features that should at least prevent Ves from mistaking one pairing for another pairing.

They all looked incredibly beautiful or handsome. Their genes gave them an inherent outward beauty that could easily be enhanced through the clever use of makeup.

Gloriana would have called them perfect if not for the ugly fact that the pairings were all products of incest, if only in spirit!

As it was, Ves developed the strange impression that he had entered a ship that was populated by perfected organic sculptures rather than real human beings.

Together with the nearly identical uniform patterns, they all looked a bit unreal and uncanny.

It was as if the Geminis were playing an elaborate game to outsiders.

Ves knew that wasn't the case, though. These Geminis rarely had good interactions with other groups of people, so they turned inwards instead and only cared about the opinions of their fellow people.

They seemed to be good at following orders though as they did their best to hide their vigilance and animosity towards a foreigner like Ves. It was regrettable that they couldn't hide the emotions in their minds.

The hatred and rejection bottled up inside their heads were palpable at times.

Ves quietly developed a sympathy for the Geminis. These people had probably endured a lot of discrimination, ostracization and even outright abuse from other humans.

Gloriana's initial reaction towards the Gemini Family was the rule rather than the exception.

Did the Geminis deserve all of the backlash for persisting in their unnatural practices? Ves couldn't say. He preferred not to think too much about the ethics of indoctrinating twin brothers to marry their twin sisters from the moment of their birth.