The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3776

Chapter 3776 - Winding Backwards

There was no uniform standard to bestowing localized names to planets, moons, asteroids, comets and other phenomena in space.

Different states and organizations might agree to one of the many standards supported by different scientific associations, but the Larkinson Clan didn't sign up to any of them. There were no legal constraints that limited the names that it could bestow to newly-encountered planets and moons.

Although the right to name satellites sounded like an impressive way to make a mark in humanity's history, the truth was that there were far too many star systems in the Milky Way and the Red Ocean.

The sheer abundance of satellites to be named reduced the value of bestowing them with artificial labels.

The only instances where naming planets and moons were valuable was when the star system had all of the signs of becoming an attractive destination.

Even then, a lot of people never bothered to pay attention to the local names of the satellites. They continued to adhere to the universal standard of distinguishing them by referring to their distance from a star or planet.

This was why Ves did not pay much attention when he named the various moons and planets in the Garimel System.

He could call them silly names such as 'Party Planet' or 'Gloriana's Treasure Chest' without any issue.

Of course, that didn't necessarily mean that organizations such as the MTA were willing to adopt the names and register them in its database. People eventually learned the Association's limits and made sure their suggestions weren't too vulgar or humorous in order to get their names recognized.

Ves didn't know why, but he found himself in the mood to name the more significant satellites in the Garimel System after the mechs and starships that he encountered throughout his life.

Garimel I gained the name of Auralis after Ves named the heavy terrestrial planet after a Fridayman fleet carrier that the Larkinsons managed to capture.

Garimel II acquired the name of Lemogo Distat which Ves had derived from a fleet carrier of the 34th Slug Ranger Mech Division of the Ferril Provincial Army.

Garimel II-B, the largest moon in the neighborhood, became known as Iron Crusher, which used to be one of heavy hammer-wielding mechs fielded by the Forgehammer Mech Regiment of the 7th Molten Hammer Mech Division.

Iron Crusher happened to be another potentially lucrative mining site.

The difference between Iron Crusher and Gatecrasher was that the latter exhibited a lot more tectonic activity than the former.

The frequent volcanic activity caused Gatecrasher to push a lot of underground matter to the surface.

Iron Crusher was a significantly calmer moon. Its surface, which featured substantially more craters due to asteroid impacts, was generally lighter and less remarkable.

If the Larkinsons wanted to mine for goodies on this moon, then they would probably have to dig underground in order to reach the more profitable veins. All of this required a lot of effort. Just finding these valuable mineral deposits was a lot of work!

As the rest of the expeditionary fleet arrived in the neighborhood, the ships all settled into a high orbit around the gas giant.

Calabast made an infrequent visit to the Spirit of Bentheim in order to report on the Larkinson Clan's findings of the Garimel System.

Ves looked up from his desk terminal the moment her suited form entered his office.

"Long time no see."

"You're the same as always, Calabast. Is it really necessary to dress for an infiltration mission?"

"I could say the same to you, Ves. Your combat armor is packed with more protection than you ever need these days. It's not as if you are fighting on the frontlines anymore."

He shrugged. "Who knows. Anyway, please take a seat and tell me about all of the interesting details that you have found about the Garimel System."

"I may have to disappoint you today, Ves, because we have yet to discover too many facts that you may probably find interesting."

Calabast activated a projection and began to present information that she thought that Ves needed to know about their current environment.

Details such as the predicted solar activity of the blue supergiant star to the probability of discovering minerals worth mining in the nearby moons were all important to the expeditionary fleet.

"The Vandal survey teams have already discovered numerous small to medium-value mineral deposits on the surface of Gatecrasher." Calabast said as she referred to Garimel II-F by its new pet name. "The scout mechs are far from done with exploring the moon, so it is only a matter of time before they find more valuable resource concentrations based on extrapolations of its known distribution of surface deposits."

Ves took a good look at the incomplete survey map of Gatecrasher. The deposits found so far were not that valuable in the greater scheme of things.

Even in a dwarf galaxy where resources were in short supply, the expeditionary fleet could earn a few dozen to a few hundred MTA credits from mining these sites.

While this made the mineral deposits far more valuable than anything else discovered so far, it still wasn't enough to make this expedition worthwhile considering how much time and effort it took to scrape all of these smaller deposits!

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify