Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 152 Mimic (2)

Avery looked at the small, colder strexnoid dubiously after finding out that what appeared to be its skin was actually some sort of synthetic material only meant to imitate the appearance of an actual strexnoid.

The slightly less organic movements and lower body temperature also made quite a bit more sense now. Whatever this thing was, it was certainly not a living creature as it was trying to appear to be.

"My best guess is that it's an automated robot made to look like a strexnoid. But it's hard to tell since it had been constructed with superb cloaking technology. I can't tell anything definitive with our sensors, so it might even be a manned vessel." Kasandra said, giving her input.

Thinking about a bunch of people being aboard that thing made Avery crack a smile and chuckle a bit.

At this point they would probably be sweating buckets since their little scheme had just been found out.

Still, judging by the fact that there was no change in its movements to suggest that someone was controlling it, Avery figured that it being an autonomous machine would make more sense. Adding people to the equation would have simply made whatever was going on more complicated.

"The question is, what is that thing's purpose? And should we just destroy it so that we can analyze its components?"

Jasmine made some good points, and while busting open the fake strexnoid would allow them some insight into its workings, Avery had a bad feeling about doing so.

"I don't think attacking it would be a good idea. The other strexnoids have surrounded that fake protectively. I'm guessing it's somehow imitating one of their own kind somehow. Judging by its size, it could even be trying to pass itself off as an infant. Which would explain why the larger ones of the collective are keeping close by to defend it." Avery surmised.

Of course, there were still a multitude of mysteries surrounding this fake strexnoid. Such as how it had been able to trick all of the others, what its purpose really was, and who had made such a thing.

Avery wanted to try and collect some more information, but from the movements and postures of the strexnoids around them, he felt that they were quickly overstaying their welcome.

In their current position, if all of the giant behemoths surrounding them decided to use their large frames as battering rams, the Dauntless could easily see itself being crushed.

"We've got enough data for now to identify that at least something abnormal is going on. Let's meet back up with Oliva and Commander Berk and share what we've found. This is ultimately an investigation for the Alliance Police, so we should let the man in charge decide what to do next."

Having decided to pass the buck off to Berk, Avery plotted a course out of the innumerous group of strexnoids.

A few minutes later, he found himself outside of migrating beasts' tight formation and back in open space.

Not too far away, the Alliance police light cruiser Commander Berk was in charge of and Oliva's corvette were keeping pace with the strexnoids.

Avery swiftly directed the Dauntless over to them and then transmitted the data that he had collected.

While there was no immediate response from the Alliance Police, Oliva got back to Avery fairly quickly. Apparently, she had sent the data right off to Vi'ivando and Grito since they were simply more knowledgeable in general.

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It did not take long for the two of them to make sense of the sensors reading and analyze what had been found.

"I can see why you weren't able to make heads or tails of the information you were getting. That thing's been outfitted with a device that sends out a bunch of different readings that confuses sensors. Fortunately, that incredibly high-end ship of yours is outfitted with some impressive systems. Once Grito and I sifted through the unnecessary information, we were able to isolate what you want." Vi'ivando said, sending over what he and his nephew had worked out.

Now that the sensors readings had been compressed into a concise form, Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine were able to properly examine them.

The fake strexnoid they had encountered was most certainly a machine of some kind.

Now that the information was unjumbled, it was clear that it was releasing emissions from a prolusion device and that the tendrils attached to the thing were only there to mimic a regular strexnoid rather than having an actual purpose.

It was also releasing some sort of gas that was not related to any function that Vi'ivando or Grito could discern.

"That might be how it's manipulating the other strexnoids." Jasmine suggested. "From what I remember, they can emit certain pheromones to communicate. Perhaps the person that made that fake has created a synthetic version that the real strexnoids recognize."

Certainly, this was only a guess, but Avery could see the possibility being correct.

The fake strexnoid was certainly small and if it was releasing an imitation of a pheromone that an injured or distressed child of the species might, that would explain the protective nature of the larger strexnoids.

"Good work to you two. Having both of you around for stuff like this is a real help."

"J-just doing our job. You helped us out so much already that this is the least we can do. Also, we're working on some other stuff to help you out. It's all still in the conceptual phase right now, but I promise that it will be worthwhile. I won't make you regret letting me join you." Grito said, a bit of nervousness in his demeanor.

Avery could tell that his team's new engineer was worried about being able to prove himself useful. But Avery had now doubts that Grito's skills would come in handy, and that under his uncle's direction, he would continue to grow.

Once Avery, along with Kasandra and Jasmine's assistance, complied the information along with their hunches, they sent it off to Commander Berk. He had still yet to contact them, but that was par for the course. He was not one for giving intermediate updates and only told them anything when he wanted to or was forced to.

Eventually though, the Dauntless received a transmission from the cruiser.

"I suppose that the results must speak for themselves. Good work on discovering that machinal mimic. You've actually managed to complete some work befitting that three hundred thousand Krenin you're being paid." Commander Berk said, his expression a bit reluctant and his tone slightly bitter.

Had he been by himself, he would have passed by the anomalous temperature reading of the fake strexnoid. It had hardly seemed like investigating at first, and he figured that heading to the front of the collective was the best way to get results and would have hurried along.

Now though, it was obvious that some force was at play with this group of strexnoids. Though whether these beasts were native to the Dramid Alliance territory or from outside of it was still unclear.

"This is certainly already enough to mobilize a larger force but let us continue looking. I want to determine if these strexnoids have been tagged, and if there are anymore of those mimics hiding among their ranks."

At Commander Berk's direction, they continued searching the strexnoid collective for more information.

Eventually, they did come across an individual that had been tagged with a tracker by government funded researchers.

Yet, the device was not transmitter and had been covered up by a thin film meant to camouflage it so that it would be nearly impossible to detect. Had they not been specifically searching for the tag and using top-of-the-line sensors, it would have been easy to miss it.

"Well, that wraps up one mystery. This group of strexnoids is definitely native to the Alliance. But whose changed their migration path, and why are they doing this?" Avery mused aloud.

Kasandra and Jasmine gave some theories of their own, but seeing as they were still lacking information, this exercise soon developed into a game where they came up with the most outlandish reasons that someone would want to do this. Eventually reaching the lofty and incomprehensible goal of galactic domination.

As the three of them passed the time this way, they finally reached a point where their sensors were able to detect the front of the collective. And directly in the lead was another of the mimic, discernable by its slightly lower temperature.

This one, however, was quite a bit larger than the first one they had come across. Obviously, these giant space beasts were not going to be led by a child, so whatever organization had cooked up this plan had made a convincing replacement for an adult specimen as well.

Now that they knew what to look for, Avery focused in on any emission the new fake was releasing, and found that it like it's smaller counterpart, it was sending out a series of gases to manipulate the strexnoids as well.