The siege had barely begun. Over 50,000 chs opened fire at the massive asteroid base that they enveloped from six different sides, but any hope of relying on quantity to wear down its defense was not realistic!
Heavier firepower was needed to punch through the strong transphasic energy shielding that was rated to protect the Palace of Sha against powerful warship attacks.
The first to appear among the seven ace chs of the temporary coalition was the Mars!
Patriarch Reginald Cross had always been spoiling for a fight and his impatience showed in how quickly he obeyed the command to make an appearance!
Launching from the Hemmington Cross with an abundance of fighting spirit, the impressive and indomitable Mars finally revealed itself to both the Golden Skull Alliance and all of the other pioneering groups!
"So that is the Mars? It looks even more impressive than in the battle footage recorded in the Pima Pri System."
"What an extravagant ace ch. Patriarch Reginald Cross was rely a high-tier expert pilot at the ti the Mars was initially made, but already the machine featured a lot of top-end components that were mainly suitable for ace chs. The Cross Clan bet a huge amount of money, effort and resources that this ch would help him undergo his second apotheosis, and they happened to be lucky enough to hit the jackpot!"
"That is not an indicator of luck. That is an indicator of foresight. The Cross Clan along with those Larkinson brats knew exactly what they were doing. The fact that a team that consists entirely of underqualified ch designers managed to produce a masterwork of all things is a strong reflection of their talent and potential."
"Talent and potential alone cannot explain this unreasonable result! The quality and the performance of the Mars far exceeds what they should be able to design at their respective levels. There has to be an outside factor that provided them with secret help."
"No. The Mars is completely reflective of the work of Master Benedict Cortez and his Larkinson helpers. Don't underestimate their capabilities. Look at how many masterworks the Golden Skull Alliance is able to field and imagine how many more they will be able to harness in the future. The Cross Clan and the Larkinson Clan will exceed all of our ch design efforts in a century or two. Their starting points may be lower, but their upper limits are much higher."
Many different people studied or admired the Mars. Not only was it one of the rare masterworks among ace chs, it had already exposed much of its prodigious might during the Battle of Pima Pri!
As such, the Mars was the one ace ch that everyone in the temporary coalition was familiar with. Its proven combat prowess and powerful ranged damage output provided everyone a lot of reassurance. They knew that the Mars had the range and the punch necessary to stop many powerful threats!
"Mars!"
"So cool!"
"That's mama's work!"
Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine all beca excited when they saw the ch that their parents had helped to make.
Though they had witnessed much more powerful chs in action dramas and recorded footage, the powerful first-class chs weren't as tangible or as real as an ace ch that was right next door!
Though none of the children knew exactly how much their parents contributed to the design of the Mars, that did not stop them from imagining that their mother and their father played a pivotal role in its creation!
Both Ves and Gloriana smiled with pride as they heard their kids express their childish admiration.
Gloriana was practically beaming with pride while the smile on Ves' face was a little more bittersweet.
"Is the Mars the strongest ch on our side, mama?" Andraste asked as she hugged Lucky against her suited body.
Though Gloriana's first impulse was to boast shalessly in front of her adoring offspring, her professionalism did not allow her to do so. She possessed enough professionalism and integrity to recognize that there were ace chs that exceed the Mars in many aspects.
"All ace chs are strong, honey. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is not so simple to rank them from strongest to weakest. All I can say is that the Mars is definitely one of the strongest ace chs among the seven that will appear on the battlefield. It will not make our Golden Skull Alliance embarrassed."
The Mars glowed with aggression while its Saint Kingdom already warped the space around it, making it so that many nearby Crossers developed the urge to follow Patriarch Reginald into hell!
However, the Mars did not steal the show for long as a second ace ch appeared soon afterwards!
A larger and even more massive ch surged from the center of the Santana Group's fleet.
At first, the new ace ch vaguely looked like a heavier and larger version of the Mars.
However, it soon beca clear that the blue-and-black coated machine was not a dium hybrid ch, but a heavy artillery ch!
Ordinary chs of this type did not possess flight capabilities because the addition of a heavy flight system would detract from its primary purpose.
This was not the case at the ace ch level. The heavy and imposing Thunderer Mark II surrounded by a dark blue corona might not be as fast and nimble as the Mars, but it was still able to maneuver around in space with the help of its advanced transphasic flight system!
Despite the prodigious power of this flight system, the reason why the Thunderer Mark II did not possess a lot of mobility was because of its large ch fra, its incredibly thick armor layout and its generous number of heavy cannons.
"Wow. It's so big." Marvaine admired with wide eyes.
"That's right, my son. While the Mars is great at damaging enemies from a distance, the Thunderer Mark II is even better at this job." Ves explained.
"Huh? Why is that, papa?"
"It has to do with their designs. Look at the Mars. It is smaller but faster, which ans it can easily run away when there is trouble. It is a humanoid design, which ans it has arms that can be used to hold a shotgun, an axe or a heavy saber. This makes the Mars good at dueling other ace chs up close. The Thunderer Mark II doesn't have any of that. It has given up all of its chances to beco good at ch duels so that it can function as the ultimate ranged powerhouse of the Santana Group. It is less of a ch and more of a warship cannon that just happens to move."
Though that was a gross oversimplification of the Thunderer Mark II, the description was enough to give the children a quick idea of what it was about.
Their parents knew a lot more about the ace heavy artillery ch. The Thunderer Mark II was a kinetic monster that perfectly complented the strength of its ace pilot.
Jelr Osenring was far from an ordinary employee of the Santana Group.
When he was young, he already stood out as an absolute talent. As soon as it beca known that his genetic aptitude reached as high as A-, countless groups tried to absorb the young boy into their ranks!
Lured by the highest package of remuneration and benefits, their parents eventually settled with a subsidiary of the powerful Santana Group. This completely changed young Jelr's trajectory and put him into a small but privileged class of young elites whose talents were not any worse than his own!
The entire Santana Group poured a lot of effort into raising these high potential ch pilots. Everyone received personalized training along with plenty of augntations and other forms of support.
Though most of the cohort ultimately failed to realize their potential for one reason or another, the heavy artillery specialist was one of the few who managed to et all of the expectations set by his superiors!
Not only did he advance to the rank of expert pilot with ease, he also managed to take a major step further and beco an ace pilot, thereby exceeding his original role!
Nowadays, Saint Jelr Osenring had not only attained great power, but also maintained his strong loyalty towards the Santana Group!
This was not a surprise as the Santanas did everything they could to indoctrinate all of the young and eager talents that entered their orbit.
Of course, the Santana Group did not dare to mistreat an ace pilot, so Saint Osenring had also been promoted to an honorary executive and possessed the right to vote on major proposals.
"What is Saint Osenring good at?" Andraste asked.
As the most ch-obsessed child among the three children, Andraste already understood that the strength of a ch was not solely dependent on its design and specifications.
The ch pilot also affected the performance, especially for the more advanced and higher-ranking chs!
"Saint Jelr Osenring is an artillery ch specialist that is good at stunning and shaking his targets through generating shockwaves or concussive blasts." Ves explained. "The reason why his ch is called the Thunderer is because it is ard with a large amount of gauss cannons. Each of them fire heavy slugs that not only have good penetration, but also transfer a lot of kinetic energy at once, thereby producing powerful waves that can damage the components around the imdiate impact site. What Saint Osenring does with his domain is to amplify and strengthen this secondary effect so that his ace ch can deal a huge amount of area damage."
All three of his children looked confused, so he decided to give them a demonstration. He raised his armored fist and banged it gently against the chest plate of his Unending Regalia.
Clang.
"Do you hear that noise? That is what happens when a weak projectile hits a starship. Since the power is weak, it doesn't transfer a lot of kinetic energy, which ans that the shockwaves produced by the impact aren't that impressive. Since sound is produced by pressure waves, a softer noise equates to lower damage."
Ves repeated his earlier movent but this ti he exerted a lot more force.
CLANG!
The difference was loud and clear! The ringing impact was so much stronger that Marvaine even let out a noise in surprise.
"Did you hear how much louder it sounds? Stronger physical attacks involve more kinetic energy which ans bigger booms and stronger shockwaves. Can you imagine what it would be like if an attack hits a million tis harder than my fist? You probably can't, but you will soon get to see what it is like when the Thunderer Mark II begins to open fire. Not only does it have a lot of cannons that all punch extrely hard, but when Saint Osenring resonates with his ace ch, the projectiles fired by all of those gauss cannons will produce vastly stronger shockwaves, which is perfect for inflicting a lot of internal area damage!"
Saint Osenring could already inflict a huge amount of damage when paired with a suitable heavy artillery ch, but the introduction of phasewater technology supercharged his combat power!
Before, much of his damage output first had to shatter through lots of armor and other forms of protection.
Now that all of the weapon systems of his impressive Thunderer Mark II gained transphasic functionality, it beca a lot easier to bypass the layers of protection and inflict lots of damage directly to important components and personnel!
In short, the combination between Saint Osenring and the Thunderer Mark II produced the ultimate siege weapon!
Much of the reason why the Gemini Family was so eager to obtain the services of the Santana Xenoarcheology Division Fleet was to secure one of the best ace chs equipped to break open the Palace of Sha!
As Ves stared at the Thunderer Mark II, his mouth already started to salivate.
He would love to have an ace artillery ch of his own, but his clan was too far away from realizing this dream!
None of his existing expert pilots excelled at piloting this ch type. The greatest hopeful in the Larkinson Army was only an expert candidate so far, and his chances of breaking through were low due to various reasons.
Ves frowned for a mont. "Should I give Taon a little boost during this battle?"
That was a good question.
User Comments
0 comments from readers