Contact

There are many reasons for Leo to take precautions while approaching this planetoid, even without the destruction of the scouter if he came across it. Any planet when it is drifting away from stars in the vast endless space would be frozen to such low temperatures that it would not have any atmosphere but this planetoid has an atmosphere which is not possible naturally. Many shady organizations create such atmosphere to prevent being spied upon and even Aons employ such tactics on many of their secret bases.

After ordering the descent of scouters Leo started to analyze the information being sent back by them like the composition of the atmosphere, temperature, pressure, Gravity,…etc. the reason for this is to come up with methods to eradicate the threat or nuisance at the shortest time possible.

For example they can deploy chemical weapons by speculating the source of life for the threats or nuisance and making it inaccessible for them by converting it into another form. If Aons found useful resources on a planet similar to earth but inhabited by hostile beasts then the Aons would simply release chemicals which would convert oxygen in the atmosphere into another forms or poison all the water sources. This is the quickest and easiest way to handle such threats or nuisances. Aons would also take back a few of the specimens alive so that they can be studies by researchers like Neo to understand their specialties and if beneficial rearing them like cattle.

Aons have changed their ways only with respect to sentient beings who can be reasoned with but to everything else they are nothing but a calamity.

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The scouters were descending slowly and no matter how powerful their stealth is they cannot escape the detection of the creatures lurking in the surface of the planet as they have very powerful senses which can detect even the slightest of fluctuation in the energy. Even though the scouters have low energy signature but when they entered the atmosphere they interacted with the pyrine particles in the atmosphere and made them release the ether trapped in them. This release was noticed by the scouters but it was neglected because it was limited to a small range and can even occur naturally in the absence of scouter by natural decay of pyrine.

The atmosphere was very small compared to the size of the planetoid and the scouters are making their way very slowly but they are making huge progress in analyzing the atmosphere and are also mapping the surface when possible. Their descent is not vertical but are descending by orbiting the planet to maximize their time in the atmosphere and react to any type of change. Although they are not valuable but they should serve their purpose, so their pilots at the fleet are very cautious in their descent.

Suddenly one of the scouters was attacked by an unknown entity and it was not even able to capture the image of the assailant.

"Sir we have been attacked the assailant is very fast and we were unable to capture its features. It left as soon as it sliced the scouter in half." On of Leo's subordinate immediately notifies the anomaly.

"Is the scouter still functioning?" Inquired Leo.

"Yes sir but it has lost most of its functions."

"Make it move in an erratic manner and recall the other scouters. Don't activate any energy or ether weapons use only projectiles for defense." Ordered Leo. Use of high powered energy weapons may lead to destabilization of pyrine and cause huge loss to the expedition.

The exchange between the Aons happens at a very fast speed and at huge volumes unimaginable to any human so the reaction speed of the scouters was very fast and immediately the remaining scouters were able to retreat.

Only the scouter which was damaged was left and it was moving in an erratic manner towards the space and after sometime it was once again attacked when it was about escape the atmosphere but the entity which was attacking it was captured by the remaining scouters orbiting the atmosphere using harpoon type mechanism which impaled the entity just as it attacked the broken scouter.

Only now Leo and the rest got their first look at the threats present on this planetoid. It was in the shape of a sword fish but at least twice the size of the scouters. It was squirming and trying to escape but the scouters had much more power than it as they are no longer maintaining their low key status and the fish type creature was being pulled at a very fast speed towards the Aon fleet.

The skin of the creature was changing colors in its anguish but it was initially of the same color as the dust clouds when it was captured. It was able to survive in the space and was still struggling as it was being brought back to the ship. It was not surprising as Aons have data on many creatures having such capabilities.

As the scouters were withdrawing many such creatures can be seen in the dust cloud trying to attack the other scouters by jumping into space. The scouters were able to escape it as they are much faster when they are not in a stealth mode so it was easy for them to escape the assault. The scouters were not ordered to capture more so they just evaded and retreated to a safe distance.

The creature was brought to the research division of the fleet and it was isolated in an operating room to conduct tests on it. They would verify whether it has intelligence and can be reasoned with. They would also try to get as much information from it as possible. This is a standard procedure for Aons when they encounter any new civilization or resources.

"Sir the creature is captured and we are already conducting experiments on it but is very violent so we have sedated it." One of the researcher reported to Leo.

"Use all means available to get information and be on alert toward the planetoid as they are capable of surviving in space. They can launch a surprise attack we still don't know the full extent of their capabilities."

"Yes sir."