The territorial map aligned with several flaming fault lines that ran across the borders between different munities and groups of macrobes. But that wasn’t the only noteworthy discovery that xenobiologists had made.
"The entropy points seemed to exist at the edges and borders between munities," Ria realized, now that the territories overlapped with the entropy anomalies detected by the quantum entropy sensors of the Stellarch. "So not only are each of the entropy vents covered in firestorms, but they are also at the border between territories of different groups of macrobes that appear to be hostile to each other."
That made it more annoying to access the entropy vents, unfortunately. Of course, she was confident that they could handle most threats with their power and preparations. She would rather go for a smooth operation than one where they hit a lot of friction that required a lot of time and energy.
It was interesting, too, to think that the munities seemed to orient their territories around the positions of the entropy anomalies. However, what was surprising about this was the fact that they knew that quantum entropy points always changed across the entire planet. That meant that the macrobe actively tried to be in contact with the firestorms.
"Or maybe they’re trying to track the entropy vents..." Ria murmured with a hint of intrigue. "If that’s the case, they may have a way to detect vents that is much cheaper and less resources intensive than the quantum entropy sensory technology of the Esoterist."
Regardless, it meant that they had more potential impediments to their operation. She would rather have e across a lifeless planet and peacefully locate the entropy vents than have to deal with potentially dangerous native life.
"It doesn’t necessarily have to be a perfectly undetected steathy entry. I don’t mind getting a little rough with the natives, but I just don’t want us to waste time."
"In that case, we’d better pick out our routes before we get started," Misha remarked. "In this case, standard practice would be to travel through the least dense parts of the macrobe reef systems across the surface. This will make it easier to ensure that we aren’t detected."
"What if we directly get dropped on top of the firestorms?" Runark gestured with a falling motion from outer space and straight into the entropy anomaly. "That way we reach a potential entropy vent without having to deal with the native life of the planet."
"...That’s actually a good idea," Ria muttered. "But the biggest problem is that we are undoubtedly going to be detected if we e down straight from the sky. It’s easier to hide if we’re on the ground than if we sky-dive into the most densely populated parts of the planet. I would remend that we aim for the closest remote location on the planet."
She pointed at a spot in the territory of one of the macrobe groups marked red. It was distant from their reef structures and had the least presence of the massive single-celled organisms. This made it a good spot to get to and immediately mence a discrete trek towards their first objective.
"And what if the first point we visit turns out not to be an entropy vent?" Siliscia asked with a troubled tone. "Getting out of that mess will be just as hard as getting in."
"We will have to keep really good navigation gear," Misha remarked knowingly. "And exit the firestorms through the same route that we enter them. I suspect we will have to wing the details. It’s not possible to plan out every single element of the plan on short notice with limited information. This isn’t meant to be a long-term operation. We get in. If it is a vent, then we enter the manifold. If it isn’t, then we exit the firestorm the same path we got into it. After that, we take a short break, maybe have Siliscia plant one of her hyper-oxygen production trees, refill, recoup, and then move on to the next point."
Ria nodded, heaving a sigh. "Maybe I should learn a cloning Martial Art technique, because this could be very tedious if we are unlucky."
Regardless, with all the information gathered, they made the final preparations for their operations. Ria already had everything she needed, of course. In addition to her suit, she also prepared numerous high-density nutrition pills, a highly portable tent that offered a remarkable amount of stealth, and other basic necessities, including first aid, healing, and rejuvenation potions.
In that time, the Stellarch also made the necessary preparations, distancing itself from the planet while also launching numerous electronic infiltration phages into space that furtively moved towards the several human probes that existed within that solar system.
The phages were a special form of electronic warfare evolved in the Era of Expansion that relied on small distinct devices that attached themselves to the target and would gain plete control of the electronics of the probes in the solar system, eventually controlling them. They were named after bacteriophages, which were microorganisms that targeted bacteria.
The Stellarch deployed fleets of them towards the various targets within the star system.
They needed to pletely promise each of them and ensure that they didn’t truly capture and transmit home what was to ensue soon. In order for the information that they intended to sell to be truly valuable, they needed to be the only source of it.
Within half a day, of course, all of them had fallen under the spell of the Stellarch, clearing the way for the operation to begin.
"Let’s get going," Ria remarked, all packed and ready.
She had donned her Spyioneer exo-Martial suit, equipped with all the gear that she had prepared for the operation. The rest of the team was equally prepared, having worn their respective exosuits and carrying the necessary gear.
STEP
They stood over the orbital dispatch hatch of the ship, before it opened, flooding them out of the ship and towards Planet Pinky.
WHOOSH
The operation had begun.
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