The Mech Touch novel Chapter 728

The Woolox System centered around a bog-standard red dwarf ubiquitous in the galaxy. Due to its low mass and energy output, the sandmen tended to overlook it, which the Dragon Alliance capitalized upon by setting up a small space station in orbit of the third planet from the sun.

However, just because the red dwarf was a puny star in galactic terms didn’t mean it packed a punch.

Though rare, Woolox I, the closest planet orbiting the sun, consisted of a Hot Jupiter that orbited around the sun like a frenetic wheel. The gas giant absorbed so much heat from the sun due to its proximity that its actual gas expanded by quite a bit. This made the Hot Jupiter take on a rather puffy appearance.

If the planet wasn’t so volatile and orbiting so close to the red dwarf, a harvesting operation could slowly scoop up all of that loose gas.

Woolox II and Woolox III consisted of the normal lifeless terrestrial planets with nothing unusual. Woolox II orbited a bit too close to the sun, so the Dragon Alliance plopped a space station in the orbit of the much-cooler Woolox III.

The Dragon Alliance collectively administered the outpost at the precipice of the deep frontier because no pirate gang was stupid enough to assume sole responsibility of what was called the Sandcastle.

The Sandcastle received its name due to the star system’s proximity to the core occupied space of the sandmen race. Many star systems beyond the Woolox System contained massive concentrations of sandmen.

Gathered into huge amalgamations of sentient sand on the surface of planets and moons, these massive concentrations posed an extremely deadly threat to any human that strayed close to these colonies.

The most dangerous part about these huge sandmen colonies was that they grew extremely smart when a huge number of them gathered on a single planet. Centered around a sandmen governor or mayor whose body was made out of sentient exotic material, their level of calculation and forethought sometimes resembled the thinking patterns of AIs!

Some people argue that the sandmen race was in fact a virtual race, a natural-born race of computers in other words. Equating them in the same box as organic races such as humans didn’t accurately reflect their fundamental nature.

In any case, while the full might of the CFA could easily stomp the sandmen empire into the stone age, they were currently preoccupied with other matters.

That left the sandmen race as a perennial threat to the inhabitants of the Faris Star Region. Though the sandmen learned not to approach human space in larger numbers, some of their more simple-minded offshoots didn’t get the message, causing a steady outpouring of weaker sandmen fleets to pour into the space nominally ruled over by the pirates.

"We pirates tend to look at the sandmen like processors and bots rolled into sand-like grains." Ketis explained to Ves. Her knowledge regarding sandmen was much more extensive than Ves, who only hear and read third-hand accounts about the silicone-based race. "They’re crazily smart if they gather in large numbers, but an average fleet is as smart as one of those cleaning bots we bumped into at the Mancroft Independent Harbor last time. They’re as murderous as those bots as well."

"The sandmen fleets are capable of self-learning, though, especially when led by a sandmen leader."

"Yeah, but even then, their learning process is really slow. Mayra once told me that much of their processing power is occupied with keeping their silicate-based forms animated. They don’t have much spare capacity for thought. This is also how they grew to become dependent on gathering in large groups to grow smarter. An individual sandmen intelligence is rather tiny, but gather enough of them and pool them into a single special sandmen, and you practically have an AI with access to a lot of processing power. Even then, they’re still as dumb as bots, so it takes decades for a sandman leader to develop enough smarts to rival a human."

All of this meant that the Woolox System stood at the precipice of some of the most dangerous forms of sandmen in the region. Scores of intelligent sandmen leaders lurked just beyond the invisible line that bisected the Faris Star Region in two.

The Sandcastle didn’t look very impressive to Ves. A fraction the size of Mancroft Station, the Dragon Alliance obviously invested the bare minimum they could get away with to establish a permanent presence in this red dwarf star system.

With only a handful of shops, a small hold filled with meager amounts of food, water, fuel and other necessities, the Sandcastle stayed afloat by selling their products at ripoff prices. There was hardly any space station closer to the deep frontier than the Sandcastle, so visitors had no choice but to pay for the wildly inflated prices if they needed something.

"This place doesn’t sound friendly at all." Ves spoke. "I’m kind of worried about what will happen to the Fourth Prince and his surviving retainers after we drop them off here. What will happen to them?"

Surprisingly, Ketis knew the answer. "Ah, I already heard word that Commander Lydia has commissioned the Omen of Misfortune to come here and pick them up. It’ll take a while for the Omen of Misfortune to reach the Woolox System, but they owe us for saving their bacon back at Mancroft, so they have no choice but to fulfill this small favor."

Until then, the remnants of the Shining Stars needed to hole up in this desolate outpost of a space station.

Ves did not exactly feel very confident the Fourth Prince would be able to survive in this nearly-forgotten corner of the galaxy.

"How you you insure the local pirates won’t mess with them in the meantime? The Fourth Prince is without a ship, mech and his trusted expert pilot. He’s practically naked now, and we’re just going to throw him to the wolves?"

"That’s why we’re hiring the local pirates instead. We’re paying the pirates some of the K-coins we’ve appropriated from his own flagship and use that to bribe the station administrator and commission some of the local gangs to keep an eye on the Fourth Prince."

That sounded like a pirate thing to do. The question was whether the pirates who accepted money from the Flagrant Swordmaidens would actually fulfill their end of the bargain. This far away from civilized space, no one insured that business contracts would be followed to the letter.

As the fleet finally reached the outpost some time later, the Fourth Prince evidently had a change of heart.

Gossip rang throughout the fleet.