159 159 Belly Of The Beast
"Admiral, we have received a report of another kind of forces around the battlefield."
The Admiral saw a huge amount of black object gathering just outside the range of the battlefield, "what's that?"
The coalition calls it Locust or Swarm. According to them, it is a swarm of drones like a ship. And also according to them, it took over all our abandoned sectors.
"So, they are the reason the Ganesh didn't push through their offense against us?"
"That appeared to be the case Admiral. Send this report to the Top."
"Yes, sir."
"What do we know about this swarm?"
"Nothing sir, according to the Coalition it's one of the reasons they want to ally with us as it seems to protect us."
"Is that so? But if that is true then where are they when we lost the battle in sector Alpha-26sa and sector Alpha-36bv?, if they are truly protecting us when we fought and lost half our forces in Sector Alpha-26sa and Alpha-36bv... No, I don't think they are protecting us but instead protecting something else something we don't know about that is part of our territory."
"Either way it is good news for us... Unfortunately, we can't ask them to really help us…"
"Sir, one more thing we also assume they are responsible for the sudden retreat of Ganesh on sector Omega-b102 asteroid field."
"You mean where admiral Hansley…"
"Yes, sir. Of course, this is only an assumption without any proof, but we can't find anyone capable of dealing with Ganesh besides us and the Coalition, and the Coalition said they have never been in that sector... Of course, they could be lying but so far all assumptions point to the drones."
"If that's true then, they are the ones responsible for Admiral Hansley and his men..."
"…. This is going to be trouble... Said The Admiral."
"That aside, do not provoke it, until we know which side it was on. But do attempt to communicate with it with extreme cautions."
"Yes, sir."
"What's our ETA?"
"10 minutes sir."
"I see issue code 1 red. Prepare for battle…"
"Yes sir," the soldier saluted and left.
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"Commander, what do you think about humans?"
"Hmmm.? Well for one they have a great reputation in the galaxy and this is their first real war in space. That said a lot. But I also know they are not doing it for honor or revenge but for profit. But we can't blame them for it. For one, it was the Ganesh who attack them first the same with many of us. And second Humans didn't involve other races in their war. And besides Liberty was one of the biggest open trade stations in the Galaxy, and it is their doing, so all in all I have a favorable impression on them."
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, I don't trust them!" Said the man beside the commander.
"I see, is it personal?"
"Sigh, I'm sorry commander. It is true it is a personal opinion, my cousins are swindled by a human in Liberty…"
"Hahaha, then that's your cousin's fault! No race is perfect everyone has darkness in them, so you can't judge the race because of it…"
"I know commander but."
"No but. Did you know I once was cheated by your race back on planet Clyrion, if I think like you would I allow you as my right-hand man?"
The man looks down ashamed. "Sorry commander."
"Don't be, but let it be a lesson to you. And you are right I don't completely trust them, but it's not because of their race but because we know less about them and trust needs to be earned not given"
The man was about to say more but stop as they have reached their destination.
Scattered destroyed warship littered the space, and Ganesh and another race were fighting still, and looking at it the Ganesh is clearly winning.
"Prepare for battle... attack!!!" The commander shouted.
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"This where are we?"
"Is this really inside the Space Beast?" Arielle asks with a disbelieving look on her face.
"No one answered! Specter, run a diagnostic and scan the area, make sure it's not a mirage or illusion…" Said Arc with a confused but fascinated look on his face.
Diagnostic complete, no anomaly found. Planets Gravitational pull normal...
...
….
…...
Specter runs numerous system checks and everything is normal...
But how come there's a space inside the beast's stomach, that's right (space) it even has planets and moons in front of them there's even a sun and asteroids... This is not something they expect inside the space beast...
"Scan complete... Life planet found…"
A green planet was displayed in the bridge hologram. It's similar to Earth's only more land than water it has 80% of land and 20% water. It has several moons 2 huge ones and around 18 small ones orbiting the planet.
"Warning Hostile detected!"
Deployed the drones Arielle tells Gideon to make preparations.
The small version of the space beast can be seen in front of them and their number is in the thousands and counting.
Although it is a small version the smallest is still bigger than specter, and it's not just one species Arc saw a giant snake-like beast and many others.
Prepare for battle! Soon the drones and the small versions of space beast collided and begun to battle. Arc notice that the space beast seems to like eating his drones as every drone that gets destroyed was devoured by the mini space beast. And that's not all even the space beast that gets killed was also devoured by another space beast.
"Shit! Retreat! Head to the living planet..." Specter immediately pulled back all its drones and just using the shield they ram and force their way into the said life planet.
By the time they reach the planet Specter's shield is only at 24% that shows how much damage the ship received trying to run away.
And like Arc Expected the moment the Specter entered the planet's atmosphere the space beast stop chasing them.
The planet is like a giant forest. Everywhere they look all they saw are giant trees and endless green.
They choose a relatively tall Mountain with a flat top as a landing base, of course, they clean the trees using the drones... They chose that method instead of just directly landing on it. To prevent any unnecessary destruction.
Inside Specter. Everyone was busy scanning the planet, and countless drones were released to scout and gather intel.
Luckily the planet has almost the same gravity as earth and the air is breathable as well.
The planet is about 5 times the size of Earth. It has one big ocean and countless rivers running all over the planet.
Specter displayed the planet information. Before entering the atmosphere Specter released a number of satellite drones that used a small amount of energy, Specter was hoping that the small satellites would not be noticed by the space beast. And so far it seems his gamble pays off.
The only downside is that the small satellite has limited capability.
Arc and the rest read the information Specter has been projecting about the planet.
Unfortunately, the nearest establishment is quite far away, but it is not much of the problem, the problem is that they know next to nothing regarding what kind of being living on this planet…and according to Specter the population is sparsely separated. Of course, that's just an initial scan before Specter enters the planet's atmosphere.
And it will take a bit of time before all scans are completed
So instead of exploring he decided to wait for the specter to finish its scan and recon.
Gideon volunteers to scout ahead, Arc agreed. So Gideon forms a 5 squad with ten people each, and they are armed with a mini bot and were escorted by several droids and drones. While Arc remains on the ship. Watching everything. There's a reason why he decided to stay on the ship. It is because he felt some kind of resonance from another tool holder just like when he first traveled outside the solar system.
Inside the ship, he was shielded by specter, but outside he can easily be detected by another party. And unless he knew more he wasn't going to risk it.
