Read Novel Full Chapter 1031: No Longer Just A Colonisation
Chapter 1031: No Longer Just A Colonisation
After all the updates I sent, I was asked to head to the flagship of the current battlegroup of the fleet orbiting the planet.
I decided to just fly directly there with my Exo-Knight while my girls returned to the ship in theirs.
I also found another ship ascending from the planet’s surface that was also headed for the Carrier and it took me a moment to realise that ship belonged to the Reapers.
I’m guessing Nayek was also called along for this meeting since I was working together with her or something.
I flew into the hangar and was guided by the hangar personnel to dock my Exo-Knight in one of the open bays where I had to make my Exo-Knight kneel to fit in since they didn’t have dedicated Exo-Knight docking bays open for me.
The Reaper ship also came in for a landing at a landing bay near me, its landing struts touching down on the deck right as I powered down my Exo-Knight.
Freyja, being the good girl she was, stayed where she was quietly and only got up once I went over to give her a quick pat on the head.
She followed me to the entrance of the cockpit and allowed me to carry her in my arms before descending to the ground.
There was a hangar technician who had been in the midst of walking over to help secure my Exo-Knight but immediately froze when he saw Freyja wagging her tail in my arms.
"Oh hell naw..." He cried out before running off.
Hmph... Rude.
I placed Freyja down on the ground and let her walk beside me while another guy came towards me, this one being a soldier who was dressed up in full body armour with a rifle strapped to his back.
His helmeted head turned slightly to look at Freyja for a moment and he stopped a short distance away from me. Too far to be considered casual but at least close enough to know that he was trying to get my attention.
"Captain Tera. Admiral Thoryke requests for your presence. If you would follow me?"
I nodded, "Lead the way. Oh, my dog can come along, right?"
The soldier looked down at my dog who was sweeping her gaze around the hangar like she was casing the place for threats.
"Ahem... I... I suppose you can..." He muttered almost inaudibly.
I’m guessing he wanted to say no but I guess that meant leaving the dog here where I cannot take care of her which might be an even worse option.
On the other side, I realised Nayek had just got off her ship as well, flanked by two other members of her squad and another soldier was also there to receive her.
Incidentally, the other two Reapers were staying behind and only Nayek followed the soldier who was there to escort her.
We met up at the door to leave the hangar and she gave me a nod of greeting after eyeing my dog.
"Captain Tera."
"Captain Nayek," I returned her greeting with a nod.
Both of us continued following our escort who remained politely silent as they focused on their job of escorting us.
"I heard you cleared out another nest after you left," She muttered.
There was no accusation in her voice. It was more like she was stating a fact.
That’s why I didn’t bother lying and confirmed her words, "We did. We felt that we couldn’t take the risk and decided to just eliminate the nest anyway. Unfortunately, it seemed like we were too late as that bug not only escaped before we even reached the Queen bug, they had also sent out their own bugs which I assumed flew to other nests to warn them as well."
She paused for a moment, "I see... I assume this is why we were called here? Because we have first hand news about this new behaviour from the bugs?"
"I would assume so."
The rest of the walk was in companionable silence where we eventually reached a door that slid open to reveal a briefing room with a large circular table. Projecting out of the centre of the table was a holographic image of the planet and several different people were seated around the table.
Most of them were wearing military uniforms but there were a few who were obviously Mercs from how they were dressed and the way they looked out of place amongst everyone else.
The Admiral, Markarius Thoryke, was seated at the opposite end of the table looking up at the hologram with a critical gaze.
He shifted when he noticed our entrance before nodding and gesturing to the empty seats on the other side of the table.
"Captain Tera. Captain Nayek. Thank you for coming. Please have a seat."
We did so, joining the table as the others around the table gave us mixed looks. Some seemed to be appreciative of us while others looked like they weren’t too happy to see us, the latter belonging more to the military personnel than the Mercs.
Well... All of them shared the same look of alarm and fear when they saw Freyja beside me but to their credit, they did not run away or scream.
The Admiral waited for us to settle into our seats before he continued, "As you all have already known... We have just received some updates to the situation of these bugs from our esteemed Mercenary colleagues here who have just cleared out two more bug nests from the planet. I would first like to extend my congratulations and thanks to both the Reapers and Teran Mercenary Company for their successful expedition."
Both Nayek and I inclined our heads in acknowledgement.
He then gestured towards the hologram that zoomed in on a particular part of the planet, specifically the area that Nayek and I had cleared out the two bug nests.
"To get everyone up to speed, the bugs have been observed to possess traits that allow them to rapidly mutate and evolve in the presence of a threat and they seem to be trying to adapt to us right now by mutating themselves into stronger variants to fight back against us. Not only that, these creatures have also managed to overcome their main weakness of relying on the nest’s Queen for survival. Before, the death of the Queen would mean the death of the nest, but the nest that Captain Tera had hit managed to overcome that weakness and they no longer perished after the Queen was killed."
A screen popped up and I realised it was a recording of our fight where it showed the Queen laying dead on the ground which then panned to show the bugs still alive and fighting. It had been specifically cut to hide how I had killed the Queen and what happened afterwards which made me believe Vier had edited this specifically to send to them as evidence of my words.
There were a few murmurs around the room as the people around the table discussed amongst themselves the implications of such a thing.
I overheard one of the Mercs groaning to his partner, "Great... There goes our plan to just throw down a big bomb into the tunnel and blow up the Queen to get a quick paycheck..."
Welp... Sorry bro...
Markarius raised his hand and the room quietened down, "I’ve gathered all of you here today because we would have to prepare for the possibility that the bugs might evolve beyond what we are ready for and we might need to have a united front against them instead of facing each nest as separate groups."
One of the military persons turned to him, "Admiral... Are you suggesting that the bugs might potentially unite together to try and... Attempt to militarise themselves to fight against us?"
He nodded, "That would not even be the strangest thing to happen. They have already shown they have a hive mind within the nest so they might organise themselves into one giant hive instead of individual nests."
Another military guy leaned back in his chair, "I think in the worst case scenario... We can always just glass the planet and burn its surface to ash."
The Admiral turned to scowl at him, "You’ve forgotten our purpose here. We are here for the crystal veins underground and to colonise this planet. If we engage in prolonged orbital bombardment of the surface, it would make our goal harder to achieve and the bugs can just hide underground. If we were to completely destroy the planet just to get rid of the bugs, then we would have failed our purpose here. That is not acceptable."
One of the Mercs then raised his hand, "In that case... What will you have us do?"
The Admiral gave both Nayek and I a look before speaking, "As of right now... I am declaring that the planet and this expedition have its danger level raised by another threat level. If the expedition team does not meet the required capability to deal with the threat themselves, they will not be allowed on the planet. Gentlemen, ladies... As of today, we are officially at war."
Err... Threat level? Danger level? How do you even measure that?
And are we still qualified though?