Chapter 1020: Back To Bug Extermination

The planet of Xetarva loomed in the distance, right where I remember it to be.

Things have changed around here quite a bit.

Previously, there were only ships belonging to the military floating around the planet but now... I’m seeing a whole bunch of ships of various designs and sizes all hovering above the planet.

No doubt, they belonged to various Merc groups and with how they were clustered together in separate groups, I could tell which ones were operating in groups and which ones were solo.

Interestingly enough, there were also other ships that seemed to be hovering at the edge of the system. These ships were too far away from the planet for someone to mistake them to be participants in the bug clearing, but they were also too close for them to be mistaken for spies.

"What are these guys doing?" I asked, gesturing towards the group of ships hovering at the edge of our sensors. "Are they tourists here to watch the show?"

Amber giggled, "Ehehe~ Well some of them are. But others... They’re scavengers."

I blinked and turned to her, "Scavengers?"

She nodded, "In operations like these, there’s always a few Mercs who bite off more than they can chew. The entire group goes down to the surface of the planet to participate in an expedition and... All of them end up dead. Now their ship is just sitting in orbit with no owner and full of loot soooo..."

She trailed off with a smirk on her face, leaving the rest unsaid.

"So these people just wait here and swoop in to scavenge the ships belonging to the Mercs that never made it out?"

"Pretty much."

"How do they even know who’s dead and who’s just on the surface chilling around?"

Amber pointed towards the ships that were clustered around individual groups in the planet’s orbit.

"See those? Those are most likely different Merc groups that gathered together to clear the bug nests. So all of them are basically strangers to each other and only together for this one job alone. Once they clear the nest, they would leave, which means any ship left behind... The owners are probably dead."

Ah... I see.

"Wouldn’t they at least leave one or two people behind to watch the ship though?" I pointed out.

"Some might. But there might also be Merc groups who don’t have the manpower to spare for such a luxury and need all hands on the job so that’s what the scavengers are hoping to get."

"Won’t the other Mercs in the same group also know that their expedition members got wiped out and they could just have first dibs on their ship?"

Amber chuckled, "Ehehe~ Yes we could. But it’s kind of like an unofficial rule that you don’t do that. After all, you went with these people in an expedition force together so unless they have said beforehand that they want you to have their things if they die, it would surely leave a bad taste in your mouth to rob the things of the people you have fought together with, right? And it’s also kind of our way to let the scavengers have something since they would basically come in to clean up the trash after all."

I see... I haven’t actually worked with another group of Mercs like this before so I’m not sure if I can relate... Although I guess... In the game, you wouldn’t loot your own teammates’ remains if they die since they would respawn and cuss you out for taking their things from their body.

So I wouldn’t do it in a game but whether I’d do it in real life is another question. Of course, this does not apply to my girls and more towards the Reapers that we are currently working with.

I turned back to look at the planet in front of us, "Still feels like a waste of time though... There’s so many scavengers but there might not be enough ships left behind for them to scavenge."

Amber grinned, "Oh for an expedition like this? The surface of the planet is also open for them to scavenge. Mercs who bring in heavy armour and equipment that were destroyed in their engagements, the scavengers would swoop in and claim them for scrap. Heck, they would even be claiming the bodies of the bugs to sell them to enthusiasts, collectors, labs and other people who might want them."

They’re basically the unofficial cleaners then. Got it.

We got closer to the planet before we synchronised the cutting of our Travel Drives with the other Reaper ships, following the path that they have mapped for us as we flew to the other side of the planet where another C Class Corvette bearing the same Reaper insignia on the ship was orbiting the planet.

"Mistress, that woman’s hailing us," Yumiko reported, prompting me to give her a nod to get them to patch the call through.

A screen appeared and I was greeted with Nayek whom I only recognised because I remembered the mask she was wearing when we met.

"Tera. We’ve secured this bug nest that we have planned to raid. Sending you the details right now."

More screens appeared to show pictures of the planet’s surface which I assumed were taken by the crew of the ship that had been left here.

It looked pretty standard with the tunnel opening on the surface and what looked like a few pockets of those bugs loitering around the entrance to their nest, acting like they were guards or something.

I wonder what do they even eat? The planet seems to be mostly barren and there’s no other creatures down there for them to hunt so... What do they even subsist on?

Nayek continued, "We are preparing to make planetfall in an hour. How soon can you and your team be ready?"

I nodded at her, "An hour is plenty enough for us as well."

"Understood. Our plan of insertion is to drop a few bombers down to clear a landing zone in front of the tunnels and establish a forward base. Once we do, we’ll bring in the rest of our equipment to prepare for the clearing of the tunnels. What would you be using to make the landing?"

"We have Exo-Knights so we’ll use them to clear out the bugs in that area."

There was a pause before she spoke again, "Tenth generation?"

"The newest ones. All custom made."

"I see. Very well then. We’ll meet you out there in an hour."

The call was shut off and I gave the girls the order to prepare to make planetfall.

An hour was really plenty of time for us since we were already prepared to move out the moment we got here and only needed to board our Exo-Knights to start the operation, but I guess we could use that hour to do some final checks.

Ries and Patricia had been good on their word and they remade Patricia’s suit though it was still a solid suit and not made out of nanobots like I thought they would, but it was at least packed with enough firepower to rival an actual suit of Power Armour.

Nerissa would be ferried back to the military to take command of their dogs with one of Renata’s copies piloting the Verlandi to transport her while I would also be bringing Freyja along with me as well.

For this operation, I would also be participating with my ’Power Armour’ which would basically be Renata transforming into my Power Armour and moving alongside the Reapers.

I think with a dog and three people in Power Armour, it should be convincing enough for the Reapers that we meant business.

Unfortunately, Mara wouldn’t be able to come with us since she couldn’t use her Psionic powers openly and will be watching the ship alongside Vier. Her Exo-Knight was also a support type so I didn’t really see a need for her to join us on the initial landing.

However... I do intend to let her join us as a support personnel in the forward base they were setting up in case we needed her medical expertise, assuming that the Reapers didn’t have their own doctor of course.

Amber, Lea and Yumiko should be able to participate as they are without any suspicion at least, especially since they have their Exo-Knights as well.

With the plan set, all of us just needed to suit up and head to our Exo-Knights.

I thought Patricia would be riding with me in my Exo-Knight but... I had to bring Freyja along as well so she definitely could not follow alongside me.

Speaking of which, Patricia would be controlling the suit from up on the ship instead of landing with us.

I did express my concerns over latency issues since there’s a really big distance between the planet’s surface and the ship but... Both Ries and Patricia assured me there would be no problems.

Since they were so sure about it, I didn’t ask anymore.

Now... It’s back to the bug planet we go~