Chapter 69: Monsters, caves and giants

In a story or fairy tale, the advance of the exploration force would have been free of danger as they advanced, or, on the contrary, they would have encountered a test impossible to overcome except for a lesson in ingenuity from the protagonists.

However, these were troops of an army; despite their youth and inexperience, they were officer cadets, experts in combat, prepared for years to face a difficult exam for ordinary mortals, and guided by an expert Admiral. With the readings and data transmitted by the Arquides and the rest of the fuses deployed in the area, they could anticipate the danger.

The assault weapons they carried also made a difference; they could already encounter large six-armed primates in their advance, felines that bent the laws of space, or swarms of insects ready to attack them; it was just a matter of tactics, position and expertise that exceeded them.