At 9:00 of morning, Nikolai's team was moving slowly, maintaining a pace of 2 km/hr. Nikolai had deliberately chosen the staggered formation to maintain situational awareness and observational cover, never ruling out the possibility that hostiles were hiding among the trees, or even underground through improvised tunnels, or concealed by optical camouflage.
Mei was pointing at the sky when she noticed something orbiting the sun, an unknown structure of immense scale. Filled with curiosity, she turned to Feng.
"Hey Feng, what is that?"
Feng was struck with awe at the sight of the colossal circumsolar megastructure, though he could only offer his best guess.
"Possibly a Dyson swarm. It is a practical version of a Dyson sphere, based on the principles of Kepler's Law, which states that orbiting bodies trace ellipses with the central mass at one focus rather than at the center. It's purpose is not only facilitate extended planetary defense and waste management also would be to harness energy indefinitely, enough to sustain the continuous energy consumption of an entire civilization for millions or even billions of years."
Takeshi was also staring at the sky, trying to comprehend its vastness, but he was only met with silence and refocused his attention on the surroundings. Mei seemed satisfied with Feng's answer, though she did not understand much about the physics involved, and she admired his broad intellect.
Maibelle remained indifferent to their trivial musings, quietly grieving over her son and husband who had been killed in the Second Civil War, when the American government had lost its grip over the federal states following its failure to de-escalate the global conflict. This was a secret she had never told anyone, fearing she might receive another round of beatings for being overly dramatic.
Nikolai raised his hand, signaling the gesture to stop, as the radar display picked up signals from three unknown lifeforms at the three o'clock position, moving at a walking pace roughly 4 kilometers from the town. Feng also received the signal and activated quantum sensing mode.
He saw humanoid figures in ascetic robes who shared the same physical features as them, and fortunately they were not post-human variants. The two males appeared to have suffered injuries, and one female was being carried on someone's back, her body temperature dangerously low, suggesting she was either starving or ill. They had not anticipated that the Null Reverends would send another group.
“I'm going alone to escort them to safety. Mei will cover the route, and Feng, don't forget to notify us of the status.”
Takeshi activated his exoskeleton interface and sprinted toward the extraction target to reach them in the shortest time possible, while Nikolai and Maibelle restlessly scanned the area. Feng panicked when the radar display flooded with multiple lifeform signals moving rapidly in their direction, and he shouted with a shaking voice.
"Damn it, a bison stampede! We can't handle this. Get up a tree, now!"
They hurriedly climbed and activated their nanospikes to scale a gigantic pine tree until they reached a branch, standing on it to observe the situation. Mei, hidden within her optical camouflage, activated the taser mode on her railgun rifle and began paralyzing several bison.
Nikolai borrowed Maibelle's railgun rifle and opened fire with impressive marksmanship, managing to paralyze hundreds of bison in just 6 minutes with the help of AI-assisted aiming. The herd of bison began to panic and scattered in every direction.
Mei killed one of the bison and carved out a large portion of its meat for dinner, placing it in the hemp bag they had stolen from a hunter. Takeshi had 6 minutes left to reach the rescue target, maintaining a running pace of 20 km/hr. They could not afford to lose the opportunity to add manpower for the impending military operation, though he felt uneasy about the woman being carried on someone's back and made a mental note to let Mei deal with her if something went wrong.
Artyom was panting hard, straining under the weight of Olena he was carrying, his injured leg bleeding profusely. He angrily shouted at Janssen.
"Hey, my shift is done! Now carry her, or I will snap your fucking neck and feed you to her."
Janssen, frightened by Artyom's threat, submissively took Olena onto his back. He had never experienced this kind of misery before, and he had to admit he was just a laughable office man who had always hidden behind curtains, mobilizing entire bureaucratic machinery to gather critical intelligence both domestically and internationally in the name of national security.
Perhaps that had always been a common rhetorical pretense to justify imperialism, coups, false-flag atrocities, and blackmail against the people or countries they disliked or who actively opposed their hegemony. Janssen could not argue back against Artyom, because in this world, physical might was always the deciding factor, not wealth, influence, or leverage.
Artyom signaled Janssen to stop, and they both heard thundering footsteps approaching. A man of shares similar height as them came into view, clad in an ornate armor suit, and Janssen nearly wet himself as a flashback surged through him. It was the same armor suit worn by the towering female soldier who had almost killed them over something trivial.
The man began to introduce himself and state his intentions.
"I'm Watanabe Takeshi, and you also came from Earth. Our team captain Nikolai ordered me to retrieve all of you. Are there any casualties or anyone missing from your team?"
Artyom finally felt relief upon hearing Nikolai's name and wasted no time relaying the most important details.
"Someone is missing. It's our team captain, Major General Maksym Kovalchuk, who has a very close relationship with Nikolai. He bargained himself to save us while we were being actively pursued by an armed hostile, and he ordered us to find your team. I believe he's still alive and making his way to town."
Takeshi grimaced at what he heard and called Mei to proceed with the extraction.
"Mei, get over here and escort them. I'm going to rescue their team captain in town, who has a very important connection with our captain."
Takeshi was currently at the 4 km mark and needed another 15 minutes to reach the 5 km mark before the town. He knew the mission was going to become a tough game of cat and mouse, but considering his rank, Maksym's decades of combat experience and expertise were too valuable to lose, and losing him could potentially decrease the effective outcome of tonight's raid operation.
"Wait here. One of my teammates will come to retrieve you because I'm going to rescue your captain. Remember, follow our captain's orders, and only trust him. Don't ever trust anyone who goes by the name Akihisa Mei."
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Takeshi moved immediately and wasted no time on pleasantries. He activated his optical camouflage and vanished from sight. Janssen trembled even harder while Artyom stood stunned, realizing they had arrived in this world woefully unprepared, without any protection, and that they would desperately need that kind of equipment just to survive.
Maksym was running desperately for his life, panting and sweating through the forest, now hiding in mud for a while. He was aware the enemy was very near and that Ariadne was going to torment him first, despite the fact she obviously knew where he was hiding. She loudly called out and taunted him with violent and visceral threats.
"Hey, old sir, better not hide. I know where you are. Should I go chase your friends first? Too bad the outcome isn't what you expected, because I'm going to skin them alive, boil their pieces, and feed them to the pigs. Then I'll spray their blood to fertilize the wheat field and the harvest yield will be optimal this year."
Maksym shuddered in rage at her unspeakable savagery and his disbelief only intensified. What kind of people could speak such uncivilized words while being polite at the same time? He couldn't grasp the moral concept or logic of this civilization. Suddenly, something grabbed him by the back of his robe and hurled him into a nearby tree.
Maksym groaned in pain from the violent impact and stared briefly at her in horror. He immediately stood and threw mud to smear and obstruct her optical visor, but the ploy proved ineffective as she evaded it quickly.
When Ariadne moved to stab his leg, Maksym sidestepped rapidly backward and ran away from her. He was aware that close-quarter confrontation against her was not a good idea and was obviously a lethal attempt.
Ariadne was greatly amused by Maksym's impressive feint and praised his fortitude. She knelt and spoke while facing her dog directly, patting its head.
"What a slippery fox, isn't he? He's not as naive as I thought. Arkas, chase him but just watch from a distance. I'll give you a treat later."
The wolfhound quickly moved to track him, but Maksym was already far out of range. Ariadne still hadn't activated her software tracking tools from the start, because it was unnecessary. The point was to convince the prey that the hunter didn't exist, so the prey could prove to himself that he wasn't being hunted at all.
Maksym estimated there were 2 km left before reaching the town. He picked up available resources such as wood and sharp stones to craft a distracting trap that could divert her attention from capturing him. It was autumn now, and dried leaves were stacked across the forest floor like snow, ideal conditions for starting a wildfire.
Maksym started removing the bark of a dry twig with the sharp stone and whittled the tip to shave tinder. He shaped a small hole in a log to place the tinder, then roughly drilled the wood until it started smoking. He added dried grass and blew carefully until it caught fire. Maksym quickly placed the flame against the dense canopy of dried leaves and the fire started spreading wildly across the forest.
Dense smoke obstructed vision and he used the chance to reroute his escape southwest. He changed the plan to flee through the river, as the town was no longer a viable option with danger still unpredictable under these circumstances of cultural unfamiliarity.
Maksym was running frantically when fear shot through him as someone kneed him in the chest, followed by a kick to the groin, and he collapsed to the ground. He groaned in agony with tinnitus piercing his ears from the surgical violence, crawling helplessly and hoping for someone to save him. It was already too late. A familiar figure approached, lightly tapped his face, grabbed him, and hurled him into a nearby tree. She threw a spear that pierced his lower chest and grotesquely impaled deep into the wood behind him, pinning him like a nail and eliminating any possibility of escape. Maksym neither screamed nor reacted. He only gazed at her tearfully, pleading for mercy.
Ariadne politely commended him with dull and bureaucratic eloquence, without malice or contempt.
"You know, old sir, I admire that courageous spirit of yours. My superiors didn't really anticipate your combat performance data exceeding the length of expectation they required. Your rescue will come soon. Be thankful for my superior's order not to dispose of you. I will honor our agreement from now on, but there will be no next time. Do you understand, my old sir?"
Maksym weakly nodded at Ariadne and she pulled the spear out from his lower chest and injected him with nanolattices to patch the serious wound he had suffered. Ariadne carried him to a nearby tree hollow for shelter from wild animals and sent extraction coordinates to the approaching party. She and her dog vanished quickly to return home, as the town mayor had already lifted the punishment against her for allowing unfamiliar faces to enter the town and interact with local residents without proper permission or authorization.
Takeshi received a coordinate message from an unknown sender. The radar display shows the target marker implied two possibilities: an enemy trap, or perhaps Maksym himself. He diverted southwest and looked through quantum sensing within 2 km, spotting a man lying inside a tree hollow based on bioinformatics. His heartbeat was weakly pulsating at 47 BPM, he was suffering from internal bleeding, and his body temperature was gradually dropping from 36 to 29 degrees Celsius.
Takeshi moved as fast as he could to rescue the man and finally reached the tree hollow. He meticulously checked the surroundings, including inside the hollow, and carefully touched the victim's body in case the enemy had strapped him with explosives. Maksym weakly groaned in pain as Takeshi carefully carried him outside. He noticed the wound had been patched up with a strange metallic substance. Takeshi called Mei to request an emergency medical procedure and was told to lay the patient down on a comfortable surface first. He found a large flat rock to use. Then he asked Maksym to breathe deeply twice and injected nanolattices into the cranial nerve to block the pain receptors temporarily.
Maksym asked him in a fragmented and hoarse tone to confirm his assumption.
"You're from Nikolai's group, right?"
Takeshi nodded but answered with urgency in his tone.
"Sir, we need to depart as soon as possible. Your team is safe and waiting."
Maksym only smiled. The gambit had finally paid off, but he would never do it again. The risk had already been too great. Takeshi carried Maksym on his back. Luckily there were only 7 km left to return, and Takeshi set the walking speed of the exoskeleton interface to 5 km/hr out of consideration for Maksym's injury. Remaining time was 1 hour and 24 minutes. They proceeded to depart without wasting any time, as the danger was closing in more than ever.
"The development of events is getting more interesting. Their struggles, sentiments, and emotional moments are truly philosophical testaments that Interlopers were are also have capacity for rational thinking and we always believe for millenia they're just simply less than a bloodthirsty monsters. Pettiness is their ethics, wretchedness is their morality, and hypocrisy is their god. Isn't that right, Comrade?"
Inside the office chamber, the room was more intimidating than opulent, surrounded by the gloom of Gothic-inspired architecture. A towering and muscular man in simple fatigue uniform with striking features of Desi ancestry stood looking at a projector, watching real-time footage from reconnaissance satellites.
Master Sergeant Robert saluted one of the highest commanders of the Imperium, Brigadier General Kailash Shrivastava, the Legatus of Legio CCXVII. He was there to report and audit the resources used for preparation. Kailash read the files and signed the papers. Robert also relayed a message from his sister.
"Sir, my Soror wants to meet you soon regarding the upcoming offensive against the combined forces of the Objectivist rebels from Great Sanctuary of Liberty and Episcopacy of Enlightenment in the asteroid belt at Crimson Cross intersection."
Kailash's interest was piqued by this news and he offered Robert a seat to discuss the sensitive matter.
"Those lowly vermins are growing bolder than ever. A bunch of libertarian pedophiles are now sharing the bed with pederast philosophers. I see no difference between the two. No need to interrupt your Soror's work. Give this file to her. It contains an overview of the latest ship technologies and weapon systems. All she needs to do is submit feasibility studies to His Sovereign, arrange a meeting with high command to present a strategic and tactical plan, and wait for approval to commence the operation."
Kailash handed the files to Robert and saluted before he left. Private Ganzorig burst into the office, saluted, and reported on the status of preparation.
"Sir, reporting in. The trap we laid for Interlopers was completed just minutes ago. They have also retrieved an additional team and there is a possibility they will bring them as extra manpower to infiltrate this place."
Kailash saluted him back and Ganzorig left the office. He looked back at the projector, smiling at the curiosity of ants. Hell was not always empty, and the demons were waiting everywhere to drag them all down together into the deepest pit of despair.
