Super Mothership
Just now, besides pledging her loyalty again, Catherine also brought the latest intelligence from the Kruzer family.
The wormhole in the direction of the Woolf Civilization had expanded to a dangerous degree, and both sides had already begun tentative exchanges of fire.
Thanks to Speaker Kruzer’s maneuvering, once large-scale conflict broke out, it would be the moment Alsace was redeployed to the Wulf frontlines.
In other words, Nie Yun wouldn't be able to stay in the Proxima star system for much longer...
He opened the star map projection of the Proxima system. His gaze moved continuously over the map, refining the long-contemplated plan in his mind...
…
Three days later, in orbit around Planet Kara.
Dozens of metal canisters were jettisoned from the blockade fleet stationed above the planet.
Though the Twin Star fleet's warships had a complete ecological cycle and waste management system, they weren’t space metropolises but combat-focused ships. So from time to time, they still produced low-grade waste—either with no processing value or unprocessable at all.
Fleet units stationed in planetary orbit would typically dump such waste onto Kara for incineration. Whether residual debris that couldn’t be burned in the atmosphere would hit flowers, grass, or children on the surface—this was entirely outside of the Twin Star people's concerns.
Even with a verbal ceasefire agreement in place, who could seriously consider garbage disposal as a form of orbital bombardment?
If you want to blame something, blame gravity.
Gravity: “…”
Dozens of metal canisters turned red-hot as they burned through Kara’s atmosphere.
As they fell, the outer casings eventually disintegrated from the heat, and a variety of junk spilled out in all directions like a celestial flower scatter.
What no one noticed was that in a few of those broken canisters, ten small, colorful mechanical components were hidden among the trash as they plummeted downward.
Unlike the other tumbling debris, these inconspicuous items descended in a highly stable manner. Shaped like diamonds, with pointed ends facing down and miniature stabilizing fins on their four edges, they maintained perfect orientation.
Bang bang bang…
Dozens of kilometers above Kara’s surface, the diamond-shaped objects suddenly disassembled, revealing dark, compact exosuits inside.
It turned out these were cleverly disguised miniature drop pods!
Carrying out a covert mission for the military, a special ops squad had successfully bypassed both enemy and allied detection lines, secretly arriving via the Twin Star logistics route. They then infiltrated Kara using this method!
After separating from the pods, all 10 operatives immediately glided in different directions.
Upon closer inspection, one could see translucent membranes stretched between the limbs of the exosuits, forming glider-like structures reminiscent of bat wings.
The armors then activated their optical camouflage systems, rendering the soldiers nearly invisible.
Taking advantage of the scattered debris, the squad had infiltrated Kara flawlessly—so flawlessly that even Nie Yun hadn’t noticed.
Shortly afterward, the operatives landed and held a brief communication exchange.
Bzzz “This is Alpha Squad Leader No.1, I’ve reached central coordinate X!”
“This is No.3, landed successfully!”
“No.5 here, veered off target by 2 km, new coordinates uploaded…”
“No.8, all systems normal!”
“No.2…”
“All members accounted for. Begin search mission!”
“Understood!” x9
…
Alpha Squad Leader shut off comms and surveyed the surrounding environment.
Since Rose had already gathered all the Hunter units under her command, large-scale Hunter activity on the planet’s surface had essentially ceased—this provided the infiltrators with a convenient advantage.
“Camouflage mode, activate!”
At the captain’s command, his armor suddenly inflated slightly, and with shifting lights and shadows, in the blink of an eye, a lifelike, upright “Hunter” appeared in his place.
This infiltration-specialized exosuit had been custom-built for the mission. It was equipped with a soft silicone disguise modeled after the biological structure of a Hunter and fitted with optical camouflage. As long as the disguise wasn’t physically damaged, it was nearly indistinguishable from a real Hunter to the naked eye.
Not only that, the suit also contained a special scent emitter, capable of replicating the Hunter’s natural odor to complete the illusion.
“Quadruped mobility mode!”
The captain activated another module. The suit dropped to all fours, and in the next moment, he shot forward using the Hunters’ signature fast crawl. His speed was nearly on par with the real thing.
Using this disguise, the Alpha Squad captain sprinted through the jungle at high speed, searching for his target.
Before long, a wandering Hunter squad caught his eye.
This group of around ten Hunters was apparently out foraging. When they spotted what appeared to be a lone comrade, they curiously approached, a few even stepping forward to sniff at him.
“Hissss~” The disguised “Hunter” let out a rasping growl.
As one of the most troublesome enemies on Kara, the Twin Star civilization had conducted thorough research on Hunter combat and control protocols. Since the Hunters were developed from the Twin Star’s own “hunting dog” bio-models, analysis of their systems progressed relatively quickly.
Although the Hunters’ implanted memory-based IFF (identification friend or foe) system couldn't be hacked, their battlefield vocalizations had been studied enough to decode part of their primitive "language system."
The fake Hunter’s growl just now roughly translated to simple terms like “hungry,” “hurt,” and “home.”
While Hunters were more intelligent than their canine predecessors, their communication remained rudimentary—this level of vocabulary was about the limit of their capabilities.
“Hissss~” The Hunter squad leader responded with a growl of its own.
Although it didn’t understand why its comrade had ended up alone, the Hunter leader, not exactly blessed with a large brain, didn’t care about such trivial matters. Its growl translated roughly to: “Follow me!” or “You’re with me now!”
Clearly, it was trying to recruit a new subordinate.
Hunter intelligence was just high enough to establish basic hierarchy, usually with the strong dominating the weak.
Of course, the disguised Alpha captain had no clue he was being “recruited.” He simply repeated his simulated cries: “hungry,” “hurt,” “home.”
“Hissss~” The Hunter leader grumbled impatiently, then turned and led its group away.
A mentally deficient underling didn’t seem worth its attention.
The Alpha captain had no idea he had just been looked down upon—but when the leader merely glanced at him and then ignored him, he was secretly pleased.
Step one of the infiltration: complete.
Elsewhere, other disguised members of Alpha Squad had also found their targets. Each one quietly blended into scattered Hunter groups, following them back to their dens in search of mission-critical objectives...
The Twin Star infiltration team had a clear angle of attack. As the main garrison force of the Kara civilization, wherever the Hunters congregated was bound to be near vital military facilities—or perhaps... key defense objectives.
Twin Star was drawing closer to Kara’s greatest secret... and Nie Yun had no idea.
Though he had set up a fair number of mechanical insect surveillance points across the planet, monitoring millions of Hunters individually was an impossible task.
At that moment, Nie Yun stood deep underground, gazing proudly at the fully modified, completely reborn “Immortal One.”
“After all this preparation... it’s finally time to unleash our primordial(ancient) power!”
Immortal One: “…”
Mechanical insect: “……” (*￣︿￣)
TL Note- Ancient power?
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