novelWhat Should Have Been a Pure Blue Ocean >> Unofficial Battle in the Loyauté District (2)
| ← Ch.027 | Ch.029 → |
"..."
Sarasa looked down at her right arm.
She didn't know who, but someone had noticed them. And whoever it was had caused that landslide, so they were not from the Capitalist Corporations.
After careful observation to ensure it was not a trap, Sarasa confirmed that it was nothing more than a first aid kit. This brought her anger to its peak.
Leaving behind the first aid kit showed whoever it was was looking down on her even more than someone giving a piece of candy to a small child.
"Damn you!!"
Sarasa knocked the first aid kit to the ground and searched further into the forest.
However, she spotted something else unpleasant 5 meters in.
It was a trap using wires.
It was a simple type that activated with a tripwire. Sharpened wooden stakes were set on a well-bent branch so that they would attack their prey with tremendous speed.
However, there was an electronic fuse set at one end of the wire.
The fuse was normally used to set off some other explosive by causing an exceedingly small explosion.
However, it could also be used to sever a wire remotely.
"Shit... !?"
However, cursing was not going to stop the fuse.
This enemy would kill her if she made an enemy of them.
They were not so benevolent that they would continue to show compassion to one who had turned aside their previous show of kindness.
Part 10
Quenser and Heivia were observing her through their rifles' scopes.
"Oh, shit! She's still alive! Damn is she ever still alive!! Oh, god. Why do girls' personalities change so much when they're angry!?"
"So she didn't accept. Well, I doubt she can track us down from this distance."
They had carried out the explosion that caused the landslide after already getting a good distance away. It seemed the Faith Organization's Valkyrie was trying to hunt them down with a demonic expression on her face, but finding them would not be easy where they were.
However...
"... What is this indescribable chill? I get the feeling we should start running away just to be absolutely sure."
"A woman's grudge is a scary thing. If only they weren't so bewitchingly beautiful."
After that sidetrack with a Faith Organization opponent that had not been stated on any concrete information, the two boys got back to their actual mission.
After walking for a bit longer and crossing a small mountain, they spotted their objective.
Over half a day had already passed since they had left the headquarters of that armed group.
"So that's the Capitalist Corporations maintenance base for the Deep Optical."
Instead of the convoy used for a Legitimacy Kingdom base, the forest had been cleared out and actual buildings had been constructed. The buildings were mostly made of the thin, light metal often used in prefabs.
"... I'm surprised they went this far. Just keeping the area deforested must take a lot of work. The vegetation around here is extremely fertile, so the base would be overrun before long if they left it alone."
"I see burned spots here and there, so maybe they're burning it away."
In the base was a single building made of thick concrete that was much, much larger than the rest.
It was likely the Object's maintenance building.
While taking a broad view of the base, Heivia said, "I thought it was a Second Generation specialized for naval battles. Why would they build the base in the middle of the jungle?"
"It uses an air cushion, so it might be able to move throughout the island while it's flooded from this squall. We would have to see it ourselves to know for sure, though."
"... I'd rather deal with it before it heads out again, " said Heivia as he shed an unpleasant sweat that was distinct from the squall's rainwater."Even if it can't move, it's still an Object. If it notices us, it'll aim its countless cannons directly at us."
"That's what we're sneaking around to avoid... although this is going to be a real pain."
As Quenser spoke, Heivia observed the area around the maintenance base through his rifle's scope.
"It doesn't look like we can sneak in easily. The guards near the base are actually doing their job. I guess they're more likely to get caught with the higher ups so nearby. I don't think we can sneak in without anyone noticing."
"If that was possible, the armed group would have already done so. They know the terrain better than us."
Since the armed group had apparently never succeeded, it must have truly been impossible.
"From what I can see, the guards in different areas wear different color armbands. The guards outside the base and inside it are wearing different armbands. Even someone from the Capitalist Corporations will immediately be suspected if they're wearing the wrong color."
And of course, the armbands would be more than simple pieces of cloth.
They likely had a magnetic tape or IC chip that contained electronic information.
"It's possible the inside of the base is divided up by sections that use different colors. If so, we'll still be in trouble even if we get in safely."
As expected, getting in was not as simple as wearing a Capitalist Corporations military uniform. This was a base protecting an Object that cost 5 billion dollars. Plus, they were not on a clean battlefield. This was an area with armed groups. They would make sure not to leave any openings.
"That means..."
"We need to find an 'unseen opening'."
And so the two boys pulled out a directional microphone.
Part 11
After sunset, Quenser and Heivia remained still as the rain continued to pour down on them in the jungle.
They were pointing a special microphone that was shaped like a handgun toward the base.
With the headphone in his ear, Heivia moved the microphone over toward the officer's rooms.
"That won't get you anything, Heivia."
"Ahn? But listening in on the officers would be fastest to get information on the base."
"The people who know the value of the information will make sure they aren't bugged. They'll have a gap in the wall with a vacuum in it to keep the sound from getting out and the windows will have motors attached to vibrate them."
"Then what do we do?"
"If we can't go straight to the source, we have to try a more roundabout method. We target the soldiers on patrol."
"I doubt we'll get much information from what they say."
"No, not from one. But that changes when we listen in on dozens or even hundreds of them. If we bring all the small pieces of information together, we might gain some bigger piece of information about the base as a whole."
And so they continued their remote bugging and jotted down every little thing they heard that they thought could be useful in any way. The rain prevented them from using paper, and they had to avoid using a handheld device because of the backlight. They were forced to use permanent markers to write the information down on the insides of their waterproof military uniforms.
"If we don't hurry up, maintenance will finish on the Deep Optical."
"Dammit. Capitalist Corporations rations really are good."
While they occasionally quietly spoke to each other, dawn came, the sun passed overhead beyond the thick rainclouds, and darkness came once more. All the while, they gathered small bits of information.
"Hm, the maintenance building is ceramic compressed using quick-dry concrete. An Object cannon could easily handle it, but it could probably stand up to four or five shots from a normal tank."
"God, these Capitalist Corporations rations are good..."
"When the hell did you make a class change to a gourmet character? And quit eating them all! Leave some for me!!"
This lasted for about two days.
Quenser and Heivia took turns taking quick naps in the pouring rain while leaning up against a tree trunk as they continued to pick up on the faint voices.
Before the second dawn, Quenser gave voice to the fruit of their labors.
"The Shadow Code."
Part 12
All the while, others were monitoring Quenser and Heivia.
These were the snipers of the armed group that had asked them to destroy the Deep Optical. They were hiding beneath ghillie suits created from old rags sliced up with a knife and then covered with multiple layers of different colors of spray paint. They were getting tired of watching Quenser and Heivia sit around doing nothing.
What were they doing?
That was the question all of the guards were asking. The two boys had approached the maintenance base zone well enough, but now they showed no sign of taking even one more step.
The snipers had been impressed when the two boys had dealt with the Capitalist Corporations armored vehicle in the landslide, but they were getting irritated since the two boys had accomplished nothing since. The snipers wondered if they had been overcome with fear upon seeing the maintenance base zone.
The armed group knew bits and pieces of Quenser and Heivia's past activities from news sites, but they knew nothing of the methods used. They simply assumed the two boys would head to the battlefield and that would be that. They had assumed the situation would be resolved within the day once the two boys headed out. That was how they had viewed Quenser and Heivia.
This was nothing more than the process that led to people complaining about athletes simply "having more talent". These people had no idea how much hard work and effort the athletes had put into it all because the people had merely seen biased and summarized information of the athletes' results.
However, a further problem existed here. These snipers had sniper rifles they could use to shoot Quenser and Heivia at any time.
What would they do?
Would they continue watching or would they act?
The snipers of the armed group gave it careful thought. It would be simple enough to decide that Quenser and Heivia had chickened out, but firing that close to the maintenance base zone could easily bring danger to the snipers. And if they killed Quenser and Heivia, the Deep Optical would remain. The efforts of the "volunteer" children used to create the needed situation would all be for naught.
(Just a warning should be enough. )
A warning using the laser sight was relatively low risk when compared to actually firing a shot. However, they had used that method once already. The more they used it, the less of a psychological effect it would have.
What should they do?
As his patience wore down, one of the snipers continued to think.
That may have been why he did not notice something else.
A different shadow was silently closing in from behind him.
Part 13
Quenser and Heivia sorted through the information they had.
They had discovered a possible way in.
"Their commander has a certain item known as the Shadow Code brought in through a separate route from normal supplies. Well, I do understand why he would be worried about that."
"This Shadow Code doesn't go through the standard route. It isn't brought in with the other supplies, and it isn't officially authorized. That would leave behind data the commander would prefer not be there."
"The secret transporters have an implicit understanding with the soldiers of the maintenance base." Quenser went over the conditions one at a time."That means the secret transporters can get through the base without worrying about the sections divided up by armband."
They knew what items they needed to sneak into the base.
Just as Quenser and Heivia were about to take action, they heard a rustling in the underbrush directly behind them.
"!?"
But the noise came from too close behind them.
Quenser and Heivia frantically tried to turn around, but the attacker charged over at Quenser's side.
"Quen-... !!"
Heivia cried out and tried to aim his rifle over, but he froze in place.
He had noticed two short-range sniper rifle barrels aiming at him from two different directions.
"You are not from the Capitalist Corporations.... Your equipment is made to look like it, but I see no reason why you would be hiding and spying on your own base, " said the attacker who was straddling Quenser.
It was a low, female voice.
When he saw her, Heivia brought a hand to his face.
"(Trade with me, Quenser!! Why is it always you!?)"
"(Are you saying you want a knife pressed against your throat!?)"
"That accent... So you're from the Legitimacy Kingdom." The attacker let some of her weight off of Quenser, but the knife blade remained at his throat."What are you doing here?"
"So was the first aid kit not enough of a clue to stay out of this?"
"Shut it, kid. You may be trying to sound cool, but it just makes you sound immature. Answer my question."
"What about you? What reason does Valkyrie of the Faith Organization have to let us live?"
Quenser was referring to the fact that they could have simply shot him and Heivia from a distance.
No matter how many weapons the women had, the fact that they had needlessly approached showed that they were not all that intent on killing them. And if they simply wanted to use blades to avoid loud gunshots, Quenser's throat would have already been slit.
"A slight bit of thanks." The Valkyrie woman then got up off of Quenser."That last one hurt, though."
"So what do you want?"
"If my judgment is accurate, you are about to attack the Capitalist Corporations maintenance base."
The Valkyrie woman gave a thin smile.
It was most certainly not a smile of friendship.
"We are searching for an enemy of god that has fled to this area. However, they are in our way. If you are going to be causing them some trouble, we can use that. We simply wish to know when it will take place."
"You are willing to ask the Legitimacy Kingdom for help?"
"You are better than the Capitalist Corporations or the Information Alliance. The Legitimacy Kingdom's ceremonies such as the coronation are often based on religious ceremonies.... But more importantly, you are neither enemies of god nor are you obstructing our search. For now at least."
"(Damn. I'm glad I didn't make a crude joke when she climbed on top of me. )"
Even as Quenser felt a bit of quiet relief, another aspect worried him.
Quenser and Heivia were being monitored by the local armed group to prevent them from running off. Making contact with a unit from a world power could be seen as preparations to flee. It was possible they would be shot from afar.
When she noticed Quenser's eyes racing around the surroundings, the Valkyrie woman said, "You do not need to worry about them."
"?"
"We eliminated the others. We will use those who can be useful, but we have no reason to spare the ones who are of no use or who will hinder us later."
Quenser heard a clanking noise.
The Valkyrie woman pulled out several scopes. They all had broken lenses and a dark red liquid splattered on the side.
"Would fingers or ears have functioned better as proof?"
"..."
He had known the woman was bad news before, but Quenser felt a chill run down his spine once more.
No matter how he thought about it, they were clearly enemies.
They would not be their allies.
He was also amazed at their ability to eliminate all of the snipers who had been hidden in the jungle.
He started to wish he and Heivia had gone further with the traps earlier.
"(Quenser. Hey, Quenser!!)"
"(What, Heivia?)"
"(If the guards from the armed group are gone, can't we just run away now? We don't have to go after the Capitalist Corporations Object!!)"
Heivia had a point.
With those guards killed, the armed group would take some other action. It was possible they would decide Quenser and Heivia had betrayed them and send out an additional unit.
However...
If they did nothing about the Deep Optical, more disasters on a scale too large to see would occur in the Loyauté district.
That armed group might once more use children as a shield in negotiations with someone else. And if that did not work, they might do something even worse
And most importantly...
"(Are we really free to leave?)"
"(What do you mean?)"
"(Do you think Valkyrie took the risk to approach us for nothing? They're hoping to use us. So if we refuse... )"
"Dammit, " groaned Heivia.
The Valkyrie woman could hear everything they were whispering, but she was letting it all go.
"So what exactly is your plan?" expressionlessly asked the woman who made the decision to kill based on whether the person could be of use to her or not."I do not care what you are trying to do, but the bigger the disturbance and the longer it lasts, the better for us. If you need anything, just ask."
"Well..." said Quenser as he concentrated on keeping his breathing regulated."We need some bottles. I'll tell you the brand, but they can be empty. You can probably find them in their trash. Also..."
Not only was Valkyrie surprised at what Quenser said, but so was Heivia.
Looking puzzled, the Valkyrie woman asked, "Is that really all you need?"
"We don't have much equipment. We don't even have that."
"Understood, " she said, accepting his request. She then lowered her voice."But if you are captured by the Capitalist Corporations, do not speak of us. If you do, we will thoroughly research who you are, infiltrate your safe country, and kill every one of your relatives."
"You don't need to threaten us. We don't even really know if you're from Valkyrie or not. We aren't who our uniforms say we are either."
"Very well then." The Valkyrie woman gave a wicked smile that almost seemed to be blasphemous in itself."You two do as you wish. If we can make use of it, we will."
Part 14
Quenser and Heivia's strategy was not all that thoroughly planned out.
They directly approached the small gate while trying to stand out as little as possible.
"Wait a second. Stop. Yes, you two over there."
When they arrived at the gate, an amplified voice called out from over 100 meters ahead. A giant light near the gate shined on them and an off-road vehicle equipped with a machine gun approached.
Two soldiers got out of the vehicle as it idled.
They wore the same Capitalist Corporations uniforms as Quenser and Heivia and had the same assault rifle as Heivia.
Quenser covered his face with one hand to block the bright light.
"Hey, stop that. You're gonna give me a headache."
"Are you with the unit?" One of the soldiers stared at Quenser and Heivia's uniforms."What are you doing here? It isn't time for the night shift patrols to return. And where are your armbands? You should have one on your right arm."
"We can't wear them since we're on a job that doesn't allow it, " replied Heivia quietly.
"What?"
The soldier frowned.
Heivia leaned in close to the soldier and whispered, "It's in both of our interests to end this discussion about the armbands. Surely you've heard of the commander's Shadow Code."
"Oh, that..."
The soldier looked away from Quenser and Heivia with a bitter expression.
He was looking over at what the two boys were transporting.
It was a handcart.
The soldier used an LED flashlight to peer inside the canopy. Quenser spoke up to him from behind.
"Don't shine the light on it too much. It's like tea in that light can destroy the composition without even opening it."
"Oh, I see. But... dammit." The soldier groaned and turned off the flashlight."So the commander is ordering diet drinks again!?"
"He uses the ridiculous name Shadow Code, so no one knows what it is. We have to work our asses off all day while he's eating and drinking enough that he has to worry about getting too fat. It pisses me off, but that's just how the world works."
"Our 4WD vehicle got stuck in the mud. Normally, we would have called for help, but we can't given what we're carrying. Thanks to that, we had to stay out this late trudging through the mud. We're supposed to be part of the day shift, so I want to get to bed already."
The soldier clicked his tongue.
He must have felt it would be best not to cause a commotion, so he gestured to have the bright light from the gate shut off.
"Understood. Head through. The night shift can get a bit on edge, so try not to stand out once you get inside."
"Will do."
"You aren't the only ones who will be in trouble if that doesn't reach the commander."
The soldiers moved the barricade made of a metal framework and barbed wire and then opened the steel gate. Quenser and Heivia pushed the handcart into the maintenance base while everyone watched on.
"(What do we do now?)"
"(If we managed to get into the Object maintenance building like this, we would be better off defecting to the Capitalist Corporations and becoming Hollywood stars. We need to head to the barracks to borrow some armbands. We need to make sure we won't look suspicious around the maintenance building. )"
"(The armbands are divided up by color, right?)"
"(A beautiful woman's ass is one thing, but I wouldn't spend dozens of hours staring at these boring muscular men for no reason. I know what color toothpaste they use. )"
Meanwhile, the two boys headed through a few different sections of the base.
Occasionally, a powerful light from a watchtower would move towards them and they would start sweating, but the circle of light would humorously move away the instant it touched their handcart. It seemed the base truly did have an implicit understanding.
They stopped the cart behind the barracks in a spot the watchtowers could not see, but no voice called out to challenge them. They then slowly opened one of the windows lined up on the barracks wall.
Of course, the window would normally be locked and would have sensors.
"All the information is proving accurate. When the Shadow Code reaches the gate, they secretly unlock one of the windows."
Just to be sure, they removed one of the diet drink bottles from the cart as a good luck charm and climbed into the barracks.
It was nothing but one of the empty bottles Valkyrie had procured with filthy, germ-filled jungle water in it, but no one was going to double check the contents even if they found it suspicious.
People had a lot of complexes about diet drinks. If the commander thought someone was giving it undue attention, he could very well hold a grudge.
"Y'know, if we actually delivered them to the commander, he might get food poisoning and the base's chain of command would come crumbling down."
"They would just stick someone else in charge. Directly targeting the Deep Optical is still our best bet."
The two boys chose a room in the barracks to enter.
They of course chose their target from the name plate for the room.
All the data they had gathered was enough to know what that person's duty was and that no one would be inside at that time.
Quenser and Heivia quickly started digging through the belongings inside to find the armbands they needed.
"Each individual person doesn't have just one armband! Counting spares, they're given three! We just need to find the right color!!"
"Which color!?"
"Blue or green! Blue is for the guards and green is for the technicians!!"
Given how Quenser and Heivia were dressed the blue for a guard would be more natural. Also, the person who stayed in that room was a guard.
"Maybe we should change out of these soaking wet uniforms into new ones."
"We're not officers. You don't see regular soldiers walking around with an umbrella. More importantly, we need those armbands! Dammit. Are we not just going to find blue or green ones around!?"
Suddenly, Quenser and Heivia heard approaching footsteps.
"(Shit. This is bad, Quenser. )" Heivia lowered his voice to a whisper."(We can't find the armbands. It'll look suspicious to stop by here with a diet drink! We're cornered!! Anywhere we go is a dead end!!)"
The footsteps continued.
They were clearly headed for the room they were in.
Quenser suddenly spoke up.
"(Heivia, hand me the diet drink bottle. )"
"(What?)"
"(We have nowhere to hide!! We just have to keep doing what we've been doing, so just hand it over!)"
Heivia tossed the bottle and Quenser caught it in one hand. Quenser then wrapped a new uniform jacket and the one he already had around the bottle.
The door opened without a knock as he was doing so.
A middle aged man wearing an expensive-looking uniform that seemed ill suited to actual combat looked at them suspiciously. He had quite a heavy-set build like the type of soldier that simply drew arrows on maps. To be blunt, he was the type of officer the bottom-rung soldiers would dislike.
"What are you doing here? Is this your room?"
"W-we're hiding. We have our reasons."
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw the item Quenser was trying to hide
"If you've arrived, then hurry up and deliver them. If they are on the base, we can't have the delivery seen as incomplete.... Also, even if this is the Shadow Code, make sure to return what you used for packaging."
Quenser and Heivia passed by the middle-aged man's side and attempted to quickly leave the room.
He called out to them.
"Wait."
"... Do you need something?"
"Since you have it here, we can open just the one now, right? We're just eating rations, so we need to look after our health too."
Quenser almost jumped.
The bottle was filled with filthy jungle water.
"We..."
"We?"
"We aren't overweight enough for it to be worth opening it."
"If you say so..."
"W-well, we'll be going."
The middle-aged man gave a slightly bitter smile and waved Quenser and Heivia off like he was shooing away a dog.
Heivia breathed a sigh of relief upon exiting the room.
"... We're safe for now, but what do we do now?"
"Good question."
"We can't hang around forever with nothing but the diet drinks. Also, that old man is in the room we thought we could find the armbands in. Without green or blue armbands, we can't approach the Deep Optical's maintenance building. If we can't do that, getting in the base was meaningless."
It was possible they could find the armbands they needed in other rooms, but they had no information to base it on. Searching over a hundred rooms would take time and it would seem suspicious. More importantly, they would be unable to avoid a fight if they accidentally opened the door of a soldier who was on break.
If that happened, they would never survive.
"If only there was a way to destroy the Deep Optical without touching it."
"Ahn?"
"Heivia, let's go back over the information we gathered with the directional microphone over the past 2 days. What maintenance is the Deep Optical undergoing?"
As Quenser spoke, they headed back to the window with the security deactivated in order to leave the barracks.
"If we know that, we might be able to find something we can do."
Part 15
"The Deep Optical is a Second Generation Object using a laser beam for its main cannon, " said Heivia as they left the barracks through the window and hid behind the handcart."But that main cannon is a tricky one. Eight excitation lasers are used in conjunction with a liquid prism for the stimulated emission, but if the refractive index within the liquid is off even slightly, the laser beam will tear the main cannon apart."
"And the maintenance is related to that?"
"I think they're defragging the electronic control program that automatically regulates the density of the liquid in the liquid prism. It seems software problems will crop up periodically. Their method of dealing with that seems to be to perform frequent maintenance of the memory clusters."
"..."
"Oh, but don't get your hopes up. There is absolutely no way stopping this maintenance could make the Deep Optical blow to pieces, " said Heivia just to make sure."As I said, this is nothing but software maintenance. If we interfered with work on the JPlevelMHD reactor, even foot soldiers like us might be able to blow up the Deep Optical, but this is just the program controlling the main cannon. It isn't enough to blow it up."
Of course, the Object had around 100 other cannons at its disposal even without the main one. Any one of those held enough destructive power to obliterate a tank or battleship, not to mention a flesh-and-blood human.
"Are you recalling what we did to the Water Strider?" asked Heivia."That was planting a bomb on parts to be put in the Object which we subsequently detonated. But we can't do that here. This is software maintenance, so no parts are even being replaced. Not to mention that we can't approach the Deep Optical or even the area filled with the spare parts."
"... Where are the spare parts kept?"
"At almost the exact opposite corner of the base from these barracks. But it's too far away for the diet drink excuse to work. The armbands there are red. Not that it matters since we don't have any color."
For the Deep Optical's maintenance building, they needed blue or green armbands.
For the storage area for the Object's spare parts, they needed red armbands.
There were no exceptions to that. Having the diet drinks would not get them through. In fact, it would seem even more suspicious.
"... What color armbands do we need for the storage area for non-Object supplies?"
"Yellow. And we might be able to sneak into somewhere like that. But what does it matter? We aren't going to find Object parts in a normal storage area. Even if we set a trap, it would never reach the Deep Optical. It's meaningless."
"Not necessarily, " said Quenser."Basically, we just have to make sure the Deep Optical can't fight."
"?"
"But there's a bigger issue. Heivia, I want to compare my information with yours."
"What is it, Quenser?" asked Heivia.
Quenser carefully chose his words as he replied, "Do the people of this maintenance base keep to the standards of the modern clean battlefield?"
Part 16
A Capitalist Corporations commander named Lieutenant Colonel Rockbelt Deansgate clicked his tongue.
When the Shadow Code arrived at the gate, specified soldiers were instructed to inform him. However, it had not been that long since the last Shadow Code delivery. This had made him suspicious and the fact that the items had still not arrived furthered his suspicions. After a quick patrol, he had found the handcart abandoned behind the barracks.
Rockbelt grabbed one of the bottles and brought it close to his face. That was all it took to tell him they were fakes. He did not even need to test the taste or smell. He threw the bottle to the ground and switched on his radio.
The bright lights turned to face inside the maintenance base rather than outside.
As he pressed his back against the storage building's wall, drops of liquid that were clearly not from the squall appeared all over Heivia's body.
"Damn, they've caught on!! The entire area's lit up brighter than midday!!"
"Just as expected. When the diet drinks failed to show up and the soldiers delivering them completely disappeared, anyone would realize something was up. Once they checked the contents of the bottles, they would know for sure."
"Was it really worth heading out to this storage building?" said Heivia as he looked at the building with an expression showing he did not think so."It's true that almost no one heads out to this end of the base, so we could head straight here without a yellow armband. But as I said before, there's nothing related to the Deep Optical here! No matter what sabotage we carry out, none of it will reach the Object!!"
"We're not targeting the Deep Optical."
"What?"
"We may not be able to directly destroy that Second Generation Object, but we can stop the maintenance."
Some intruders had gotten in.
Rockbelt Deansgate immediately thought of the maintenance building for the Deep Optical... or as they called it, Charbetty. As he ran through the irritating rain, he contacted the soldiers inside the maintenance building over his radio.
"No, everything is normal here! There are no records of any suspicious people entering and Charbetty's readings are completely normal."
(I suppose it would be impossible to get within those thick walls using normal methods... )
However, the same could be said about the maintenance base itself and the intruders had already made it inside the base.
Rockbelt himself was part of the reason for that, but that fact never crossed his mind.
Suddenly...
"Wah!?" said the soldier on the other end of the radio.
"What is it?"
"Charbetty's defragmentation speed suddenly dropped. This is strange. We're using quite a large computer for just this task!!"
"We don't target the Deep Optical itself. Who knows if we could even destroy it with every ounce of explosives we have. To stop the maintenance, we have to target the large computer helping with the defragmentation, " said Quenser."As long as we know how the Deep Optical and the computer are connected, we have various methods we can use. If it's located away from the maintenance building, we just have to dig up the underground cable or jam the wireless signal."
"But they'll make sure there is as little opening for sabotage as possible, right? After surrounding the building with such thick walls, it would be safest to keep everything necessary inside."
"Why has the processing speed dropped!? Is it hardware trouble or could this be a cyber attack!?"
"The hardware used for the defragmentation is not connected to the network! And it has no external media attached!! It is most likely a hardware problem!!"
(This is bad. )
They could not stop the defragmentation of the main cannon's electronic control program. Doing so would require redoing everything from the initial settings which would take days to complete. If the other world powers caught wind of it, other Objects might very well attack.
"Should we continue the process?"
"Of course."
"The only possibilities I can think of are overheating, external interference from powerful electromagnetic waves, severed wires within the machine, or simply an unexpected breakdown of the machine."
"An electromagnetic attack sounds the most like something intruders would do, but it can't be that. If that was happening, we would hear some kind of horrible static over the radio."
"To prevent damage to the data being defragmented, I can distribute the work over several processing systems. We don't have anything else on the level of the large computer being used now, but I can think of some pieces of hardware we could use."
"Can you do so while continuing the current task without interrupting it?"
"It will take a fair bit of acrobatics, but yes."
"Then..."
Rockbelt almost continued with "do it", but he felt a chill run down his spine.
"... Are the subsystem machines inside the maintenance building?"
"N-no." The soldier sounded less confident now."These other machines are not currently being used, so they are being stored in one of the storage buildings."
(So that's it!!)
"Listen, second lieutenant. Do not go ahead with your subsystem idea. Continue the defragging with the current system."
"B-but... !?"
"No matter what happens, do not open the door to the maintenance building!! Even if it's me asking you to! That is what the intruders are after. They are causing this problem so that equipment and personnel are brought into the maintenance building!!"
"!?"
"Anyone coming in could be spies carrying bombs and any computer you bring in could have explosives hidden in it!! So do not open that door no matter what!! As long as that door remains closed, the intruders cannot do anything to Charbetty! Do you understand, second lieutenant!?"
"I do, lieutenant colonel!!"
Upon hearing his subordinate's response, Rockbelt laughed quietly in the rain.
He had been planning to head into the maintenance building himself, but remaining outside was safest for the unit as a whole.
The maintenance base zone was large. However, it was still a limited space.
The intruders could not hide forever.
Once the defenses of the maintenance building were fortified, they just had to carry out a thorough search.
Then it would be checkmate.
"But can we really get into the maintenance building so easily?" Heivia was skeptical."They know that's the most important spot on the base. Once something goes wrong, won't fortifying its entrance be the first thing they do? We won't be able to sneak in during the confusion or send in a bomb-laden piece of equipment."
"True, sending in someone or something would be difficult, " said Quenser as he dug through the items in the storage building."But that just means we have to use something that can pass through the building's thick walls."
"Ahn? You mean we'll use some kind of electromagnetic weapon?"
"No, nothing as over-the-top as that, " said Quenser as he left the storage building.
In his hand, he held...
"A gas burner to burn away vegetation?"
"Quick-drying concrete meant to withstand explosions and compressed ceramic cubes will resist heat.... However, the heat will pass straight through the wall if enough is accumulated." Quenser lightly waved around the device that was made up of numerous connected tanks and pipes."That is why I wanted to know where the computer is. Even if it's in the thick walls of the maintenance building, it will be kept against the wall so it doesn't get in the way of their work, don't you think?"
And their invasion began.
Quenser and Heivia were behind the maintenance building.
Rockbelt and the others fortifying the entrance would not think to look there. Even if an Object cannon could destroy the sturdy walls, they could not be destroyed by the amount of military explosives a combat engineer could carry around. Once you were sure no one could blow a hole in the walls, your focus naturally stayed with the existing entrance.
"How did you figure out where the computer is?"
"From the vapor coming out of that pipe on the wall. That's likely from the cooling system, " replied Quenser."As I said before, heat will pass through the wall. The same goes for cooling. Basically, the coolest spot will be where the equipment they want to keep the coolest is. That means we just have to check the temperature with our hands. Using the burner there will be perfect."
Bluish-white flames spewed from the pipe-shaped opening of the device Quenser was carrying.
When it first touched the thick concrete wall, the moisture on the surface audibly evaporated. Afterwards, the surface of the concrete turned white... and then to the orange of heated stone.
This was the cause of the fall in the large computer's defrag speed that Rockbelt and the soldier had discussed.
The correct answer was overheating.
Quenser and Heivia had been heating the wall with the burner the entire time.
Quenser and Heivia did not get to see the change firsthand.
The first people to notice were naturally the maintenance soldiers working on the Deep Optical on the other side of the wall.
"What? Why is there black smoke over there... ?"
"Shit! The computer's outer casing is melting!!"
"Stop, don't get near it! Wah!?"
A maintenance soldier who frantically attempted to approach the large computer convulsed as if he had been struck by lightning and then a roar as if the air were being split reverberated throughout the maintenance building.
There was an electric leak.
As soon as the maintenance soldiers realized that, the monitors they were focused on became wrapped in darkness.
Yes.
The monitors displaying the progress of their Object's defragmentation.
And naturally, determining the cause was not difficult once that result was seen.
Lieutenant Colonel Rockbelt Deansgate hurried to the back of the maintenance building accompanied by several soldiers.
"Freeze!!"
The intruders continued to fire the flames of the burner into the concrete wall up to the instant he let out that shout.
The one intruder finally switched off the burner and casually tossed it aside.
He then said, "If you're in that much of a hurry, I assume we managed to stop the defrag. You must be pretty worried about how much the cluster damage spread to the Object."
"Do you understand your situation here?"
"Do you?" asked the other intruder."If this is a true clean and safe battlefield, you are the ones in trouble."
"This is the age of Objects. Victory is decided by the Objects, so soldiers do not die needlessly, " said the first intruder, sounding as if he was enjoying himself."But when those rules are broken, it all breaks down into total war. That means we throw every military force we have at each other. And which side is in trouble if that happens? Your precious Deep Optical can likely destroy most weapons without using its main cannon... but that does not include other Objects. Not even a nuke can destroy an Object's armor. The firepower of another Object's main cannon is needed."
"..."
Rockbelt understood what the intruders were trying to say.
They seemed to belong to a unit of one of the other world powers.
(From recent developments, my guess would be the Legitimacy Kingdom unit that crushed Hyena. )
"Are you telling me to let you go?"
"If you're fine with a deadly battle breaking out, you don't have to, but keep in mind that we have the upper hand. After all, we have a usable Object and you do not. Surely you can see that your entire base will be slaughtered if you don't go along with our demands no matter how unreasonable they may be."
"If you like, we can call in our cute princess. Oh, and if you kill us here, the footage will reach the Object. Are you willing to fight a pissed-off monstrous weapon?"
"It would only take one shot." The first intruder made a gun sign with his hand and held the index finger up to his temple."The decision is yours. Take the shot if you like. But if all-out war begins, you won't be able to use the white flag."
If both of their Objects had been in working order, Rockbelt could have ignored everything the intruders had to say.
But that was not the case.
It had been clear from the moment he had shouted "freeze".
Once their Object had been rendered unusable, the battle was over.
He could hardly admit it, but he had been looking for a point of compromise.
(Fortunately, Charbetty was not completely taken out. If we redo the main cannon's defragmentation, she can head back to the battlefield. It is crucial that I keep the damages here to a minimum. )
Rockbelt forcibly clenched his back teeth as he forced down his anger as he said, "Fine then. We will go along with your proposal."
"But!!" shouted the second lieutenant who worked as Rockbelt's aide.
When the Charbetty's defragmentation had been forcibly stopped, the second lieutenant had opened the door to the maintenance building and joined Rockbelt.
"They say this is a safe and clean battlefield, but they are the ones that broke the rules first! They have no right to force their demands on us!!"
"Second lieutenant."
"Just do it! No, I will do it!! If our information is accurate, our enemy will likely be the Legitimacy Kingdom's First Generation Object. Even when not at full capacity, Charbetty's odds of winning are greater than 0%!! We need to remain resolute and-... !!"
Rockbelt clicked his tongue.
He pulled a handgun from the holster at his waist and unhesitatingly fired a bullet between the second lieutenant's eyes.
Rockbelt did not even hear a scream.
The man was dead before the gunshot had faded. Afterwards, a silence that made one forget about the squall filled the area.
"You do not stand up to them because the odds are not 0%, second lieutenant. You quickly fall back because the odds are not 100%."
Rockbelt sounded like he was spitting out the words because the second lieutenant's actions could easily have put the lives of the entire unit at risk.
Rockbelt had quickly dealt with the threat, but that had not quelled his personal feelings.
It was the intruders who had created the situation in which he had to do so.
"I will give in this time, " said Rockbelt in a frighteningly chilly voice."But just this once. This alone has created enough of a reason for our unit and the Second Generation Charbetty to attack you. Once you leave here and find some safe place, you can curl up in the corner and think about what that means. But it would be best to assume there is nowhere safe."
Part 17
And thus Quenser and Heivia succeeded in applying a certain level of damage to the Deep Optical.
The Capitalist Corporations was desperately attempting to hide the fact that the Deep Optical could not use its main cannon, but the armed group intercepted radio transmissions saying it was headed for the Capitalist Corporations block of the coalition troops in the Oceania district for official repairs.
In other words, it had been successfully driven out of the Loyauté district.
"Wonderful!! We had heard the rumors, but we never really thought you would drive away that Object!!" said the leader of the armed group as he proudly welcomed Quenser and Heivia back."Now the Deep Optical will no longer wreak havoc on the Loyauté district! The tragedy you saw and the tragedies you could not see will no longer occur!!"
His words were completely truthful, but there was one thing he failed to mention.
He had a hand behind his back in which he held a large handgun.
Once their role was complete, he had no more use for heroes.
He could not have the two boys asking for any kind of a reward and they had seen too much of what the armed group had done.
"Today is a day for drinking!! With the Deep Optical gone, the foundation of our income should return! This is a celebration of your success and the better times on the horizon, so do not hold back!!"
"There is one other thing we must tell you first, " said Quenser quietly.
The change in tone made the leader tense up. He clenched the handgun behind his back unnecessarily tight.
But that indescribable feeling was fleeting.
Before he could figure out what it was, a much greater feeling drove it away.
He felt multiple gazes on him from the trees all around him.
The leader frantically looked over at the watchtower, but he could only see the guard's upper body hanging over the railing with a gunshot to the head.
In the next instant, explosions occurred at various points along the barbed wire surrounding the base and soldiers charged in.
They were Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers.
"I told you not to think this would have a happy ending."
The soldiers moved quickly through the small base and either shot the members of the armed group or had them surrender. A few tried to take up defensive positions and fire at the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers from blind spots, but each one was eliminated by either a sniper's bullet or a distant mortar.
Despite all this, the leader attempted to fight back.
However, he stopped moving shortly thereafter.
The reason for this was simple.
One of the Legitimacy Kingdom soldier's assault rifles had a sensor attached to the end that was oddly large for some kind of targeting assistance.
It was a Cursor that was linked with the Object so the area the rifle aimed at would be accurately bombarded by the Object.
The leader of the armed group had no way of knowing this, but Quenser had asked one other thing of the Valkyrie woman in addition to acquiring the diet drink bottles.
If you have a long-range radio, give my ID number to the Legitimacy Kingdom maintenance base zone and tell them the following: We will be finished soon, so come to get us at Point RN in 10 hours' time.
And they had done so.
They had come to rescue Quenser and Heivia from their kidnappers.
And to make the leader of the armed group pay for his crimes.
It had been entirely possible Froleytia could have followed military regulations and left Quenser and Heivia for dead, but their risk was nothing compared to that of the armed group and its leader.
The Elite princess that piloted the Baby Magnum and Froleytia who gave the princess her orders both had no reason to show any mercy to or hold back against the armed group.
It was not an issue of Quenser and Heivia. The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion had already shown they would not allow such armed groups to exist with their overwhelming suppression of Hyena.
"Whatever your reasons may have been and regardless of whether they volunteered or not, you still cut off those children's limbs to further your goal."
The Object that was providing indirect firepower finally became evident on the battlefield.
Specifically, its static electricity propulsion device could be heard. How did that low rumbling as if from distant thunder sound to the armed group and its leader?
The large handgun dropped to the muddy ground while his hand was still hidden behind his back.
He could have shot Quenser and Heivia in desperation, but he dropped the gun instead.
That was how much awe-inspiring fear he felt.
That firepower could grab at the human soul in a fundamental way as if the monstrous weapon stood at a higher point on the food chain.
As he had faced Objects several times before, Quenser knew exactly what kind of pressure was squeezing at the leader's chest.
"And I also told you not to forget that the day would come when you had to pay for this, remember?"
Part 18
It all came to an end in no time at all.
The wooden building Quenser and Heivia informed the princess of over the radio was the only one left completely unscathed by the Baby Magnum. That was where the children were kept. Everything else was blown to pieces.
The Baby Magnum did not even need to appear directly on the battlefield.
The princess merely aimed her laser beams at the points provided by the foot soldiers' targeting information.
She targeted people, equipment, and buildings.
As he watched things turn to black ash and be torn apart and turn to red flames and disappear, Quenser felt the power human beings used to support each other fading away.
Most likely, what Quenser and Heivia had been doing was nothing more than a game of cat and mouse to the Baby Magnum.
With the power of those monstrous weapons that could carry an entire war and influence the course of history, that armed group would not have had to rely on Quenser and Heivia or turn blades on their own children.
Those weapons moved history.
They changed the flow of history.
There was a great difference between those that had them and those that did not.
"He said those children volunteered, " muttered Quenser quietly."Will those children hate us for destroying the world they believed in that much?"
"How should I know? That isn't for us to decide. Only those children can do that, " said Heivia, but his words were not very clearly spoken. He took a deep breath before speaking again."Hey, Quenser."
"What?"
"If I... If I really do gain control of the Winchell family one day, I could use some extra money to..."
"And if I become an Object designer... No... that isn't the way to do this."
"?"
"... We can start now. Even if it isn't much."
The squall of pouring rain came to an end.
One of the children shivering in the wooden building walked out using a cane. He spotted two shining objects.
They were sparkling in the warmth of the sun.
Would he ever realize what feelings were held within those two coins?
| ← Ch. 027 | Ch. 029 → |