The Mech Touch

There were two reasons why the Nyxian Gap developed a fearsome reputation.

The ferocious pirates that called the Nyxian Gap home deterred many adventurers and treasure seekers from entering this mysterious region. If not for their great threat, many outfits would have entered the Gap in order to hunt for alien ruins, traces of rare exotics that normally didn't show up in the galactic rim and other treasures.

The second reason why the Nyxian Gap posed such a great threat was the occurrence of anomalies. The closer to the center of the region, the greater the chance of falling victim to a random anomalous hazard.

Yet that did not mean that the periphery of the Nyxian Gap was safe! The chances that an anomaly might form in the edge of the region was small, but not zero.

Any fleet that entered the region only had to suffer one moment of bad luck to fall victim to a deadly anomaly.

The longer the fleet remained in the Gap, the greater the likelihood of encountering a natural disaster!

Up until this incident, Task Force Predator had not bumped into a single anomaly. More than two months had passed since the Larkinsons entered the Nyxian Gap, and the only threat that occupied their minds were pirates.

Unconsciously, Ves and many other clansmen began to drop their vigilance against anomalous hazards. Most of them assumed that Maynard Fields and the periphery of the Nyxian Gap was mostly spared from these dangers.

They were right. It was just that matters of random chance sometimes sneaked up on people anyway! Low probability events might still occur no matter how small the odds appeared!

Hours went by as the fleet maintained a guarded posture while trying its best to investigate the whereabouts of the Nova Krakow.

Ves occupied himself by pulling up the logs, sensor data, scientific reports and other data. While he wasn't an astrophysicist who specialized in studying temporal anomalies, he was the only Larkinson who possessed a clear understanding of the spiritual side of reality.

He tried his best to interpret the mountains of raw and barely-relevant data and tried to combine them with his own theories on the turbulence that took place in the vortex raging in the imaginary realm.

Sadly, he obtained few results. None of the ship and mech sensors that watched out for any unusual signs had managed to capture any indication that an anomaly was about to form.

Ves only realized later on that he was just wasting his time. He knew little better than the various science officers and engineers who attempted to explain the mystery of what had occurred.

The temporal anomaly couldn't be solved at their current level of understanding. Their knowledge base simply didn't encompass anything that could put the dangerous incident in context.

What all of this meant that Task Force Predator remained vulnerable to the same kind of disaster at any time. Anomalies came and left without warning and their properties meant that there was no way for the Larkinsons to defend against them. How could anyone in the fleet feel at ease with remaining in the Nyxian Gap?

At the end of the day, Major Verle and a projection of Commander Melkor met with Ves at his stateroom.

Clearly, everyone still held some lingering fears about the disaster that had struck their fleet. Lucky had turned into a scaredy cat all of a sudden and didn't want to leave Ves' embrace.

"Meow. Meow!"

Ves petted his tense cat. "Why do you think I can keep you safe? If a similar anomaly gulps our entire ship from reality, there is nothing I can do! You're no safer whether you're with me or not. Besides, there is a significant possibility that the Nova Krakow and her crew haven't been erased from existence. One of the theories that have been circulating states that the missing ship is simply displaced in time. She might appear again after a couple of thousand years."

"Meow!"

"Regardless of the ultimate fate of the Nova Krakow, it is likely that we will need to write her off." Major Verle stated with a heavy expression. "It gives me no pleasure to give up on our missing clansmen, but every record about anomalies produced by the Nyxian Gap has made it very clear that anything swallowed by them never appeared again."

Commander Melkor looked pained. Even though his modern visor blocked most of his expressions, his clenched hands clearly betrayed the frustration he experienced.

"The morale of our Avatars has sunk. Each of us feels miserable at the loss of hundreds of brothers. The fact that we couldn't have done anything to save them from this disaster is weighing on us as well. Right now, my Avatars are not in a prime shape for battle. Not only have we lost around seven percent of our battle effectiveness, our confidence has also taken a strong blow."

"What about the rest of the task force, major?"

"I have received reports that the other Larkinsons are also concerned." Verle answered. "While the drop in morale in our other mech forces isn't as dramatic, the Living Sentinels and so on have all become less enthusiastic about our current purpose. Our clansmen don't want to stay here anymore because they can't fight against these kinds of disasters."

Ves frowned at that news. "We can't leave right now. Ketis and a number of other disguised Larkinsons are still stuck in Ulimo Citadel. From what we have gathered, the Mirror Raiders are doing a good job at deciphering its defense measures."

Both Major Verle and Commander Melkor looked troubled at that reminder. The Larkinsons valued fellowship. They considered every clansman to be their brother or sister. There was no way the task force would just turn around and leave!

"From what we know, the chances of suffering a similar accident are still small." Major Verle sighed. "We went two months without encountering an anomaly. Unless our luck is considerably bad, we will hopefully be spared from similar incidents for at least the same amount of time."

"In fact, our chances of encountering another anomaly is slightly higher." Ves corrected him. "The emergence of anomalies in the Nyxian Gap is influenced by at least two factors. The most important one is the distance from the center of the region. We are quite far from that location, so the odds are fairly low. However, don't forget that the asteroids around Ulimo Citadel contain small amounts of higher grades of exotics. From what we know, a higher presence of energetic exotics means that the chances of suffering a disaster is higher!"

That caused everyone to feel concerned. Staying in this section of Maynard Fields was quite risky! At least Xiphard Base was mostly surrounded by asteroids that mostly contained Kavenit, which was much less energetic and prone to feeding disasters.

"How do the Dry Snakes and the other pirates at Ulimo bear with such a capricious and overwhelming danger?" Commander Melkor asked. "In fact, how are the large pirate alliances in the core regions able to resist suffering the same fate as the Big Two's warfleets?"

Ves shrugged. "We don't entirely know. Calabast came up with two guesses. First, the local pirates understand the outbreak of anomalies much better than others. They might even be able to avoid or defend against the hazards. Second, the emergence of anomalies appear to have a strong relation with the presence of energetic exotics. The highly advanced battleships of the CFA and MTA that are filled with high-grade exotics and high technology. What do you think the Nyxian Gap will respond to such high concentrations of energy?"

Those huge and powerful warships might as well be magnets for anomalies! The more powerful the ship, the greater the likelihood that some weird phenomena might devour them whole!

In contrast, the low quality ships and mechs of the local pirate organizations possessed a greater chance of survival. Hardly any of their hardware attracted any danger.

"Are the pirates immune? Have they figured out a way to defend themselves entirely against anomalies?"

"Again, I don't know, Melkor. The intelligence I've read states that pirates such as the ones who linger at Ulimo Citadel have sporadically suffered from disasters in these parts. The Dry Snakes, the mining vessels and random visitors have all fallen victim to anomalies over the years. Perhaps one day, an anomaly might even vanish Ulimo Citadel from existence."

Both Verle and Melkor shuddered.

This was the reality of the Nyxian Gap! No pirate or scum was truly safe from these great threats!

Ves momentarily thought about his own parents. They had spent years in the Nyxian Gap. Not only were they being pursued, they also had to fend off many pirates.

Perhaps not even his mother possessed the capability of defending or avoiding against these fearsome hazards!

He couldn't do anything for his parents at his current state. He still had a lot more to grow before he could help his parents escape their predicament.

The three Larkinsons continued their discussion. They talked about how to limit the damage, how to prevent the fleet from becoming affected by awful news and how to deal with the aftermath of the disappearance of the Nova Krakow.

Once everyone knew what they had to do, they left in order to enact their plans.

Ves relaxed a bit after the discussion.

"Meow."

Lucky still clung to his body.

"It's not as bad as I thought. The task force hasn't reached its breaking point yet. Our clansmen won't back down so easily. With Major Verle in charge, I have no worries about the morale of my soldiers."

A confident grin appeared on his face. He had experienced first-hand how Major Verle was able to use the power of speech to manipulate his listeners. Restoring calm and raising morale happened to be one of his strengths!

Since Ves didn't have to make any moves, he turned his attention back to his unexpected gain. "Let's visit the vault after I perform a quick inspection."

He left his stateroom and toured the entire ship. While he trusted the crew of the Scarlet Rose to inspect every component and device, he didn't think they would be able to detect anything on a spiritual level.

Ves patiently inspected every single compartment in person. Fortunately, nothing looked out of place. The only sign that something had changed was the strange fluctuations in Compartment G-13.

Obviously, the hidden chamber where Cassandra Breyer's escape pod constantly duplicated itself had also been affected by the disaster!

"Damnit, has something gone wrong?!"

Alarms should have gone off if any serious changes took place in Compartment G-13. As the main source of Breyer alloy in the Larkinson Clan, Ves really did not want to lose this free source of armor plating!

He felt massively relieved when he observed that the Breyer alloy production loop was still intact. The escape pod failed to resist the great heat of the forging machine and melted down without any issue. The corpse of Cassandra Breyer remained as dead and silent as ever.

As Ves observed his surroundings with his spiritual senses, he only perceived some faint spiritual ripples that were already fading away.

Something had happened, but Ves failed to spot anything amiss. He paid very close attention to Cassandra Breyer's corpse, but it looked the same as ever.

Was Cassandra Breyer faking it? Did she harvest something as well from the incident?

He frowned. Despite exploiting her powers, Ves lacked the confidence to confront Cassandra Breyer in spiritual matters. She was far more powerful than him in that regard.

Ves closed his eyes. His intuition didn't sense any significant danger. The situation here was still under control. For now.

There was nothing he could do here. Ves reluctantly put down his worries and left the secret chamber. He reminded himself that the Scarlet Rose carried another strong spiritual prisoner.

"I need to check the Ancient Sarcophagus!"