Mechanoids, sounding like a 50s era sci-fi flick, is actually the first post Aelion's Call invasion in Skyforge that has now arrived. Everyone can participate in these adventures, even, as the dev blog says, those with only 2000 prestige and a "handful of followers".
[R]epresentatives of that invading army will award Tokens upon completion. Collection of these tokens will incrementally net you Sparks dedicated to that faction’s atlas, granting bonuses while fighting members of that force, general stat improvements, as well as new Symbols!
Operations, on the other hand, are an extra activity tied directly into the aforementioned feature. Upon receiving Tokens, you will be placed into an Operation group which consists of up to 40 other players. After this happens, all information regarding your current Operation can be accessed on the Aelinet in game or online through your browser (via the player menu on the left).
Read the full developer blog on the Skyforge site.
