The Mech Touch

After a lengthy journey through the Krakatoa Middle Zone, the expeditionary fleet finally reached the mission destination!

Moments before the fleet was scheduled to transition back into realspace, Ves and all of the other people on the ships momentarily experienced an unknown fluctuation.

It was as if their bodies were turning into jelly. It was a deeply uncomfortable sensation and made plenty of people worried.

This transition from the higher dimensions into realspace was not as easy as before!

Just as a couple of people began to worry about their bodies breaking apart, they all felt a strong suction feeling before their bodies instantly solidified again.

The fleet successfully arrived on the outskirts of the Garimel System!

"Deploy our mechs!"

"Scan our immediate surroundings."

"Count our ships and check for damage."

"Measure the radiation levels and report if there are any dangers."

"Keep our radiation shielding up and make sure that all of our people are wearing their protective suits."

The latter was an important precaution. Even though the suits did not offer that much protection against threatening radiation, it might make a difference if a solar flare swept the expeditionary fleet.

Nobody was comfortable wearing their protective suits during this time, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

As usual, Ves sat in the observer's seat on the bridge of his flagship during this key moment. He wore his Unending Regalia as usual and paid careful attention to the initial findings of his crew members.

The local plot which previously showed vague details became a little more clearer this time.

"Our current position is within our safety margins. Our mechs and ships are not under threat as long as we maintain this distance from the star."

The blue supergiant star was a lot larger and massive than a yellow dwarf star like humanity's ancestral sun!

It was difficult to describe the immensity and power of Garimel's central star. The enormous blue orb looked like it could swallow up a million ordinary dwarf stars!

Getting close to this humongous energy source was definitely suicide!

Fortunately, FTL drives were sensitive towards mass. A blue supergiant was many times heavier than ordinary stars and therefore changed the spacetime curvature over a significantly greater volume.

All of this meant that the expeditionary fleet landed much further away from the center than usual. It would take many days in order to the center of the star system, not that anyone was stupid enough to attempt such a feat.

More details emerged as the sensor operators and analysts gathered more data.

"The blue supergiant radiates so much heat that our ships will not be able to remain cool if they get too close. Depending on their heat capacity and heat dispersal characteristics, we will need to pull them away from the center of the star system so that their rate of heat loss exceeds the rate of heat absorption."

Ves frowned a bit when he heard this report. Although the astrophysicists had already predicted this condition, he hoped the conditions would be a little more temperate.

"How many planets have you found?" He asked.

"Only two so far, sir. Each of them is located in the outer system which we have expected. The closest is a dense superheavy terrestrial star that is presumably rich in metals but is far too hot for us to mine, let alone scout. The second is a gas giant that is located in the furthest reaches of the outer system and is likely safe enough for us to visit. We are not able to make any solid conclusions yet, but we have gathered preliminary clues that the gas giant is orbited by more than a dozen smaller moons."

"I see."

When Ves studied the constantly-updating plot, he judged that the first planet was too close to the blue supergiant star for the Larkinsons to explore. The second planet should be safer since it was quite distant from the massive heat source at the center of the Garimel System.

Both planets looked like oddballs. Their orbits were angled and their rotations were skewed. If that wasn't weird enough, their orbits were likely elliptical as well!

These were typical signs that the planets weren't native to the Garimel System.

In other words, they were adopted.

This made sense since blue supergiants generally possessed short lifespans. They typically lasted less than 100 million years, which was not enough time for the gasses and other space junk to merge into actual planets.

"We have confirmed that Garimel I and Garimel II are former rogue planets. They both originated elsewhere and wandered the Red Ocean for an unknown amount of years. Eventually, they flew close enough to Garimel to be captured by the blue supergiant. We are still gathering more data in order to determine how long ago their captures took place."

Ves was intrigued by these results.

The probability that the blue supergiant had managed to capture a few rogue planets was low. This was because they lived too short. It was already a small miracle that it had managed to capture one formerly-frozen rock ball. To be able to capture a gas giant as well was like winning the lottery two times in a row!

More data and analysis poured in. The terrestrial planet was extremely dense. It was 15 times heavier than Old Earth and was generating a lot of magnetic interference that prevented the Larkinson fleet's long-ranged sensors from collecting high-quality data.

The only way to know what was going on in this superheavy planet was to send a scout ship to it so that the scanning arrays had an easier time penetrating through all of the natural magnetic shielding!

Garimel II was not as difficult to analyze. It was not only further away from the blue supergiant star, but also didn't possess high concentrations of interfering matter.

Even so, it was hard to collect a lot of crucial details due to the fact that the expeditionary fleet was situated fairly close to a massive star that burned so bright that its rays overwhelmed many other emissions!

The Larkinsons weren't deterred. With ships like the Blinding Banshee, the crew continued to derive key information from a lot of unclear data.

The analysts soon figured out that the gas giant was orbited by 16 moons, many of them small and rather unimpressive.

What these moons held was a mystery, but it was virtually impossible for any of them to bear any life because the stellar environment was too hostile!

After half an hour went by, the Golden Skull Alliance gathered enough data to form a somewhat clear picture of the neighborhood.

The inner system was not only extremely hot, but also filled with a lot of dust clouds birthed by powerful solar winds!

This meant that it was extremely dangerous for ships to travel this close to the star. If a solar wind happened to collide against the vessels, the sheer amount of hot matter crashing against the hulls at high speeds would strain if not outright overwhelm the defenses!

Garimel I was extremely interesting due to the abundance of heavy metals it presumably held. Millions of years had passed since Garimel captured this superheavy planet. It was originally filled with plenty of matter, but regular exposure to the blue supergiant's solar winds had probably deposited even more space junk on the planet!

However, the expeditionary fleet lacked a ship that was tough enough to survey this planet at close range.

If the incredible magnetic interference didn't scramble the ship's delicate electronics, then the higher heat exposure would steadily raise the overall heat levels until everyone inside got cooked!

This wasn't an instant process, though. As long as a ship was fast enough, she could get in and out quickly before her entire hull got roasted.

"One of the missions that we have accepted is to survey the star system, with a particular emphasis on any planets that we might find." Ves reminded everyone who attended a virtual meeting. "I have made a few calculations of my own and I believe it is possible for a specially-prepared starship to get in and out without incurring too many risks."

"Is it worth the risk to survey Garimel I?" Marshal Ariadne Wodin asked with a frown. "Our starships are valuable and we cannot afford to lose even one of them. None of our vessels are built to brave this extreme environment. Don't risk the deaths of our men just so you can earn more MTA merits."

Ves sighed. "Okay. Let's leave that aside, then. I guess that exploring that giant dust ring is also out of the question."

The blue supergiant was surrounded by a dust ring that surpassed the size of any asteroid belt or dust belt that the expeditionary fleet had encountered.

The dust ring might potentially be rich in valuable materials, but entering it was anything but safe. If the ring did happen to contain high-grade exotics, they were probably so dispersed that it was not economical to mine these resources!

For that reason, the leaders of the Golden Skull Alliance set their sights on the second planet of the star system.

"Garimel II is a lot safer by all accounts." Ves stated. "Its orbit is large enough to be spared from much of the heat and solar winds and it is also orbited by 16 different moons, each of which might hold valuable deposits of materials. With the current capabilities of our fleet, it should be safe for us to approach this planet."

The gas giant didn't appear to be special, but the moons were a different story. While the chances were high that they were ordinary chunks of rock, a few might hold substantial deposits of exotics!

It was too bad that none of their long-ranged sensors were able to determine the complete material composition of the moons.

From the perspective of the expeditionary fleet, the 16 moons were all treasure chests that were waiting to be opened!

The decision to survey Garimel II was a foregone conclusion. The only difficulty was deciding whether to approach it with the entire fleet or dispatch a smaller exploration task force.

Patriarch Reginald Cross looked impatient. "What do we have to fear from this star system and planet? Just bring everyone along."

"That would make it difficult to guarantee the safety of all of our ships." Marshall Ariadne Wodin replied. "The Larkinson Clan's civilian ships will especially become vulnerable to environmental changes. It is safer to keep them at this distance."

Ves found it difficult to decide which course of action was better. He was rather paranoid about splitting his fleet because enemies would have an easier time defeating its elements.

On the other hand, they truly didn't know enough about the Garimel System to figure out whether it was safe for their vulnerable starships to move this close.

"Since our civilian vessels are the most impacted by this complication, I don't want to make a decision until we have investigated the circumstances further." Ves told the others. "Please give us a day or so to determine the facts and weigh the risks."

The other two leaders of the alliance readily acquiesced to this request. They were not in a hurry and it was always better to gather more data before settling on a plan.

After the meeting, Ves continued to wait as more and more information poured in. The blue supergiant's immense activity made it difficult to figure out what went on in the inner system. There was too much radiation and too much space junk in the vicinity of the massive star to know whether it held anything of value.

The outer system was easier to understand. The chances that it contained other planets were low. The sensor operators hadn't found signs of alien presence.

Another day passed by until Ves had made a decision on how to explore the star system. He did not like to split up his assets, so when he learned that Garimel II was probably safe, he chose to explore the neighborhood with the entire expeditionary fleet!

"We advance together!"