The Mech Touch

5764 Task Force Solus

Just before the public inquiry on living mechs taking place on Ector V commenced, a modest task force of second-class warships quietly made its way to the orbit of a lush, green and blue globe.

The untamed planet below the recently arrived starships looked unusually vibrant.

It was filled with such an abundance of life that the crew members looking outside of the portholes could see a few regions that were dotted with huge organic growths!

The appearance of the planet had changed significantly since the survey ships last scouted the star system.

The deviations were so great that the Dragon's Den employed her specialized scanners to conduct a detailed and exhaustive survey.

The Larkinsons who arrived in orbit of the planet known as Reticula Corein V needed to gain a much more current overview of its complex surface in order to plan their subsequent moves.

Deep within the hull of the Wild Torch, the flagship of the Task Force Solus, the commander in charge called for a meeting to discuss the preliminary findings.

Swordmaster Ketis Larkinson had jumped at the opportunity to separate from the expeditionary fleet and lead her own unit.

As much as she had to allocate most of her time on designing mechs and keeping up her swordsmanship practice, she yearned to do more in her life than move between the design lab and the exercise chamber all of the time.

Leadership had become increasingly more important to her as more and more people looked up to her. As the protege of their legendary patriarch and an excellent warrior beyond comparison, Ketis had no trouble with accumulating the pull required to take charge of this operation.

As she sat at the head of the conference table, the only element that spoiled her stern and authoritative demeanor was the little girl sitting in her lap.

"Hihihi! Stop tickling me, mommy"

The red-haired girl with a tan complexion greatly resembled her mother. Mayra Larkinson held a plushy sword in her hand and ineffectually whacked it around in order to fend off the powerful fingers that caused her to giggle.

Ketis showered her youngest child with love before she gently lifted the little girl off her lap.

"Alright now, that is enough. You have classes to catch up to. Be good and pay attention, alright? If you want to become as smart as me some day, you will have to learn your numbers."

"Okay, mommy~"

Once a nanny came to bring Ketis' daughter to class, the air in the conference room grew serious as a projection of Reticular Corein V appeared in the center.

"We all know why we are here." Ketis straightforwardly began as she channeled a minute amount of Sharpie's steely will. "Our patriarch has directed us to travel to this untamed planet for the purpose of extracting a unique gas that is not present in any other star system that we know of. I am unclear why Ves wants to secure a supply of Solus Gas, but it is not up to us to question his motives. Our job is to act on his instructions and allow our clan to extract this resource from this planet on a reliable basis."

She stared at the mech commanders who led their respective detachments of their mech legions for this mission.

Given the powerful exobeasts and mutated beasts that probably turned the untamed planet into their monster paradise, the Swordmaidens insisted on coming along.

They had brought over plenty of Monster Slayers and other swordsman mechs that all hungered to hunt down the bountiful number of dangerous creatures that had been reproducing on the surface of Reticula Corein V for many months after the start of the Age of Dawn.contemporary romance

Backing up the main force were elements of the Flagrant Vandals and the Eye of Ylvaine. Each of them excelled in different roles that the Swordmaidens were unable or unwilling to fulfill themselves.

Aside from that, Task Force Solus had also brought along a handful of champions for good measure. Ketis threw an expectant look towards the small gathering of expert pilots and expert candidates at the opposite side of the conference table.

Finally, the vice directors of the Larkinson Biotech Institute and T Institute both attended the meeting. Since many of the senior leaders of the various institutions of the Larkinson Clan had chosen to undergo years-long EdNet training, the people who stepped up were merely considered stand-ins.

That did not mean that the substitute leaders were incompetent. The vice directors both possessed more than enough qualifications to conduct research and keep all of the overeager scientists in line.

"I do not need to tell you that trying to extract a resource from a planet that is filled with exobeasts that has remained undisturbed since the start of the Age of Dawn is an exceedingly dangerous endeavor." Ketis spoke as everyone tried to glean details from the projected globe. "Ever since exotic radiation has been giving superpowers to random beasts, planets without any form of civilization or population control have turned into incredibly hostile territories. The Hunting Association has never culled the most dangerous elements of the local fauna, which means that the surface is not only rife with powerful mutated beasts, but is most definitely home to calamity beasts."

Everyone's expressions darkened at the mention of those fearsome beasts that vastly exceeded the strength of second-

class mechs.

Calamity beasts were at least an order of magnitude stronger than typical mutated beasts. They not only leveraged vastly greater amounts of E energy, but also developed more sophisticated abilities to harness all of this power more effectively.

On top of that, calamity beasts were also significantly more intelligent and aware!

Information about their existence used to be an open secret during the first year of the Age of Dawn, but when an increasing number of harmless critters on terraformed planets turned incredibly dangerous all of a sudden, the Hunting Association had put a lot more effort into publicizing the dangers of rampant beast evolution.

"Vice Director Abselon, please report your preliminary findings on the geology and ecosystem of this planet."

"With pleasure, ma'am."

A woman who looked fairly young but was actually over 50 years old stood up. Maria Abselon was a recent recruit that brought an abundance of competence into the Larkinson Biotech Institute.

As a former Terran citizen, the first-rater received a vastly superior education than any former citizen of the Life Research Association. Maria Abselon had also worked for a number of Terran biotech companies, though she never excelled in any of her jobs.

One of her notable specializations was the study in the genetics of exobeasts, with a focus on developing hyper aggressive bioweapons.

She had apparently run afoul of a couple of laws that caused her to get fired and banished from the biotech industry.

This was what caused her to apply to the Larkinson Biotech Institute.

The clan was more than willing to overlook her past transgressions as long as she did her job and behaved when she became a Larkinson.

As the recently appointed vice director stood up, she transmitted a file that caused the central projection to display hundreds of different information panels above the surface of the globe.

"My research teams and I have spent the previous two hours on interpreting the rough scan data from high orbit. We have updated the rough topography, tracked down large population groups and detected dozens of abnormal sites that may be hosting the presence of an absolute apex predator. Aside from that, we have also discovered plentiful regions whose surface is engulfed with large quantities of relatively stagnant Solus Gas. Please take a look at the map and note the patterns."

The annotated map was a lot more detailed than the Larkinsons were expecting. They hadn't even conducted any thorough surveys yet, but the combination of historical survey data and recent scan data revealed plenty of changes and discrepancies that took place over one-and-a-half years.

Mech Major Randall Larkinson of the Flagrant Vandals spoke up first. His background as a scout mech pilot gave him the training to spot important patterns faster than others.

"There are numerous suspected locations of powerful exobeasts in general areas such as forests and lakes. However, none of them have been found in any of the 27 plant-less regions engulfed in Solus Gas. It may be that there is no life to be found around these large deposits, but since their surroundings are devoid of large exobeasts, I think it is more likely that these critical areas have turned into the territories of apex predators."

The vice director gazed at the trueblood Larkinson with respect. "That is a good observation. Our own analysis has produced a similar conclusion. While Solus Gas is at least mildly toxic to organisms that have never come into contact with this substance before, it is almost certain that the local fauna that have evolved in proximity to these gas deposits have become compatible with this exotic. Since we know that Solus Gas has properties that interfere with most if not all means of detection and communication, exobeasts that have integrated Solus Gas into their physiques are most likely adept at hiding their presence. Orbital scans will not be able to detect them. We can only know for certain what is hiding in these gas-rich regions by sending scouting parties."

Everyone's expressions dropped. It was never ideal to venture into uncharted territory without knowing anything about the threats lurking deep inside.

Nonetheless, if the Larkinsons wanted to do anything serious on this planet, then they had to map out all of the possible threats. If they did not do so, then they risked getting

Ambushed by a bunch of apex predators that the local garrisons were not equipped to handle!

"There are too many major and minor Solus Gas deposits to survey them all in a short amount of time." Ketis frowned. "Can we send in unmanned drones?"

"No, ma'am." Vice Director Abselon shook her head. "The drones will lose control due to the interference produced by Solus Gas."

"Perhaps we will have better luck if we send in our Fey instead. The Flagrant Vandals should have brought enough Fey Fiannas if I am correct."

"We have, Swordmaster." Major Randall Larkinson replied. "We have loaded a large variety of utility fey models, many of which have earned high rankings in the recent contest. Our scout fey are relatively fragile but discreet. They should be able to operate independently and return from their scouting trips without suffering excessive attrition. That said, I cannot account for the reaction of the exobeasts that lurk inside these gas-filled areas."

Ketis simply shrugged at that. "The scout fey are cheap and expendable. Do not hesitate to use them up. Our support ships have limited production capacity, so they can fabricate replacements in droves, especially if we manage to expand our mining operations on this planet to harvest other materials. If necessary, I can modify the design of the scout fey to incorporate Solus Gas in order to reduce their detection rate."

"That won't be necessary, Swordmaster. We have brought enough low-ranking mech designers that can make the necessary changes."

"Suit yourselves." Ketis shrugged. "Tell me about the local conditions of this planet, Abselon."

"Reticula Corein V is not a pleasant planet to live for humans. 45 percent of the surface is make up of landmass. The atmosphere is filled with oxygen as well as notable concentrations of toxic gasses that are lethal to humans when inhaled for an extended period of time. Everyone must wear fully covered suits at all times. The gravity measures at 1.3 g, which means that every person and every mech's mobility will be slightly impaired. In terms of life, there are exoplants in abundance. Exobeasts are also plentiful in number outside of Solus Gas deposits. There are numerous notable pockets where we have detected significantly less life signs than normal. They are likely claimed by apex predators, but we will have to conduct more detailed surveys for confirmation."

Ketis narrowed her eyes as she looked at these suspicious pockets.

"Have you confirmed the presence of any calamity beasts on this planet?"

"We have identified at least one ultra-large organism that denotes the presence of a calamity beast." Vice Director Abselon stated and highlighted a location on the globe. "These dark surface growths are undoubtedly recent and artificial. Since they are large enough for us to see them from orbit, the exobeasts who created these features must be either powerful or numerous."

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