In the study, Secretary-General Lin was delivering a routine briefing to Norton.
“…At present, 34 planets in the Exile Sector have been cleansed. Initial data regarding the new type of mecha has been generated based on current intelligence. The majority are far beyond our current level of technology. The technology department is working hard on research. At present, they believe the technical focus should probably be on materials.”
“Furthermore, according to intel coming back from other nations, the attitude of the Keller Empire seems to be easing. Many countries have expressed a desire to cooperate with the additional room for negotiation.”
Secretary-General Lin glanced at Norton and adjusted his glasses. One reason he came was to ascertain whether Norton intended to cooperate or not. Despite saying that, Secretary-General Lin already knew the answer deep down.
Bert removed his legs from the coffee table before Norton even spoke, “Of course not.”
Secretary-General Lin subconsciously turned to face Bert.
Bert made an expression of disgust, obviously taking this personally. “It’s Arachnid we’re dealing with. Just like Norton said, not wiping them from existence is the extent of our mercy.”
Secretary-General Lin turned back to Norton.
Norton rose. “No need.”
To the side, Dylan nodded and told Secretary-General Lin, “There’s no rush. We’ll focus on the Plague for now.”
Adrian added, “We’re at a disadvantage during negotiations right now. The technology will be ours sooner or later.”
“Their actions have eased up the pressure on us quite a bit. We just need to protect Grantz now. I’m confident in my ability to hold down a city.”
Secretary-General Lin nodded. “Understood.”
The commotion over here was loud enough for Ye Muo, who was playing with Ano on the other side of the room, to hear. Norton and the others never avoided having such conversations in front of him, so he had a basic understanding of the situation. He knew of the concept of the insect plague, and he had an idea of Grantz’s countermeasures against it. Ye Muo had volunteered himself the first few times, cajoling Norton and trying to get the man to let him help as well.
Before he could speak, Bert stood up and ushered him out the door. “Let’s go. It’s time for class.”
“Have you grown taller again? And don’t try to wheedle your way out of class today.” Bert motioned as he walked.
Ye Muo’s lesson today was how to hunt different types of king insects.
Insect activity in the buffer zone has shot up as of late. The buffer zone was defined as the area between the galactic boundary and human settlements. The insects were gradually pushing in from the unexplored regions of the galaxy towards the boundary.
A precursor to the imminent Plague.
The Grantz often took turns taking Ye Muo out to practice hunting king insects. Even the ever-busy Norton found time to take him a couple of times.
Ye Muo’s attention was successfully diverted. He forgot all about what he wanted to do just now as he bargained with Bert, “But it’s almost lunchtime! I’ll go after I eat.”
“Sure. As usual, don’t tell Sylvia.”
Ano also quickly caught up with them. “I’ll go too. I’m free this afternoon.”
Ye Muo nodded along, a skip appearing in his stride. “Okay, Ano will come too.”
The trio set off after lunch.
They headed all the way to the galactic boundary. A cleanup effort was already ongoing in the Exile Sectors, so they would have to go further out than that to find any insects. The closer to the galactic boundary, the better their chances.
Bert and Ano perked up after crossing a string of planets.
The fleet was equipped with sensors that relayed the data of all planets within a certain range back. They judged based on this data and their own experience whether the planet was infested or not.
A row of technicians sat in the command centre, screening the planets in the area.
Bert paused the screen just before one in particular was about to be discarded.
“It’s obviously infested.”
Bert got serious for once as he swiftly pulled up images of the terrain. He zoomed in after locking onto his target.
“Although it’s obscured by vegetation, the uneven bumps on the surface are characteristic of a type of subterranean insects.”
Ano nodded in agreement. He carefully explained for Ye Muo, “Hunting these insects is pretty interesting. They build a hive underground according to the size of the king insect. If it’s on the larger side, the hive will be an entire maze of tunnels. They’re clever enough not to disturb the surface vegetation and even protect it to conceal any trace of their activity.”
“The defining characteristic is that they often have more than one king insect, which produce different variants of regular insects. One has the ability to fly. Even if it lands on the ground, it tends to shoot up to the air unpredictably.”
“Generally speaking, fleets go missing either because they encountered a king insect on the ground or were assaulted by these flight-capable insects before they could leave the planet’s atmosphere entirely. Be sure to keep an eye out for them.”
Ye Muo nodded attentively.
Ano was uneasy. “I’ll go with you in a bit. The fleet will stop relatively high up this time to stave them off. We have to jump off the ship.”
Ye Muo nodded again. Norton had taught him how to jump from a starship already.
Bert sighed. There was still a chance for the fleet to be assaulted. If Ano went down there, that meant he had to stay put.
The fleet approached the planet surface. They held a certain altitude as they headed towards their destination.
…..
The Federation’s mothership was docked at the galactic boundary. In order to avoid dangerous areas as they constructed the ship channel through the unexplored regions, they had to take several warps to get here.
The mothership stayed in place as it sent out subships to scout the surrounding area, looking for suitable planets to use as temporary footholds.
A dozen ships scattered in all directions from the mothership. Each carried a squad of mecha.
The task wasn’t that dangerous, so many squads had student interns tagging along.
One ship in particular eventually lost sight of the mothership and the other scouting ships visually and on their instruments after a while. The vast expanse of space stretched as far as the eye could see.
The sheer emptiness could easily inspire terror.
The captain reassured the members of his squad over the comms channel: [The mothership’s signal remains good. Let’s continue.]
The squad members seemed calm as well. [This is a human inhabited region, so there shouldn’t be any danger.The planet in front of us seems suitable. It’s certainly large enough. Sensors indicate water reservoirs and adequate oxygen percentage. Seems to tick every box…it even had natural vegetation coverage.]
The final part was said with barely contained excitement. There were many planets that were technically habitable, but not every one of them would be covered in natural vegetation. Most planets could only grown a few plant species specifically bred to be hardy. As a result, planets like this were highly sought after.
The starship came to a stop. The squad followed standard procedures and focused on gathering and analyzing additional data.
The degree of damage to the planet’s surface was an important indicator of insect activity. [Relatively low surface disturbance. There shouldn’t be a king insect.]
[I concur. Coupled with the presence of vegetation, this planet is probably free from king insects.]
[Great, prepare to descend then.]
