Ark Rising

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  Adelis POV

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  Another day, I find myself in my office going through documents. This time they were quite important and confidential to me, as they were the results of several tests I had ordered on all the information Cesar brought back from his trip to Africa. Since almost all of it was classified, there weren't many ways to verify the accuracy of all the documents he stole, so instead I sent everything to be analyzed to see what could be done with it.

  The most important was the material known as "1313", whose discovery in Botswana led to so many questions for its people. The first was as expected - the leader of the investigation was surprised by the material and its properties. He was genuinely excited about the possibility of discovering a new mineral for the periodic table. Unfortunately, nothing in this world is that simple, and I warned him how dangerous it would be if his research was leaked for any reason. Then came the really important information: "1313" is one of the essential components of the Ark cores that make it possible to store such an immense amount of energy in a compact and easily transportable object. The Ark Cores are what make arksuits possible in the first place, hence the name. Arksuit armor is currently critical to the Alliance's military superiority, our most powerful and important asset. It's our flagship unit, and it was instrumental in our defeat of the Empire in the Continental War. With their high mobility, combat power, and resilience - all in nothing more than armor that can be worn without space concerns - they have become the protagonists of almost every battle they are sent into. Currently, only I.S.C. is the sole manufacturer of Ark Cores, and at this point, I suspect it's just one of Rose Raven's many inventions inspired by her search for dragons. From what I've heard, Lion Saber Industries isn't far from developing their own version of an Ark Core, though I have no idea how they're developing it; they probably managed to steal the plans or something. The rest of the stolen documents were filled with refining percentages and purities, details on how to extract the "1313" mineral itself - very technical stuff, beyond my understanding, but part of the data package.

  From what I've heard, the United States Department of Defense is so excited by the results of the Ark Cores that they are already considering significantly expanding the project and the scope of the cores into something entirely new, with the goal of creating drastic changes within their military. It seems they want to incorporate this technology into their new line of aircraft carriers, submarines, and even satellites, in addition to increasing the number of available Arksuit squadrons. Perhaps they were the ones who gave Lion Saber the information to have two different suppliers for their military equipment renewal project.

  The problem they face is exactly what Cesar has only exacerbated with his actions in Africa: there is very little "1313" mineral available worldwide to support such ambitions. It won't take long for other countries to notice how strange it is that the United States seems to be buying up all the land around a salt mine in South Africa, no matter how hard they try to hide it. China and Europe will start asking questions about what they are doing with all that earth and will start investigating what they have discovered that others have not. Now it all depends on how well Moremi Khama can handle the pressure on his people and his land to make the most of all this for the future of the country that he, like his grandfather, has vowed to take out of the African cycle.

  I believe I could use this documentation as a bargaining chip in a time of need if something happens in the future, but I have to be careful; it's very important and sensitive information and could perhaps do more harm than good in the long run. It's better to keep it as an ace up my sleeve in case of need.

  The next point of investigation was the stolen robot parts found in the diamond mines of Botswana. They were acting as guards for CIA agent Trigon, who was apparently trying to keep the location of the "1313" mineral under maximum secrecy. The good news is that my son wasn't stupid enough to avoid stealing the key parts of the robots; it seems that all those hours tinkering with computers were useful for more than just video games. Among the stolen parts was the hard drive containing information on the functionality of the battle androids. Kazumi and Charlotte did a deeper analysis, but according to them, most of the content is just information on mechanical articulation and a bunch of routines, basically a lot of data telling the robot how to walk or follow orders to protect a door - useful, but far from the level of a geopolitical mastermind. Trigon's and the CIA's main concern was to keep the location of the "1313" mineral secret, so the robots did not store any high-value information beyond basic functionality.

  Other recovered components included the motherboard and its processor, as well as the head with its sensors-items that allowed the robot to observe its surroundings and take the necessary actions to move and engage in combat. Unlike the Empire's dolls, such as Kazumi and Charlotte, these androids are very basic units, making them both disposable and dangerous. That doesn't change the fact that they are technologically advanced units compared to the rest of the world. This technology is probably several years ahead of anything currently available outside of the DOLLs. After examining the stolen parts, it was determined that the manufacturer of the most critical components of the CIA's combat robots is Lion Saber Industries, which is surprising considering they are the I.S.C.'s main competitor and lack the advantage of having Rose Raven's codebook.

  My problem with this is that Lion Saber is primarily known for creating autonomous drones of all kinds, not just military drones. My other son, Leon, was hired as one of their programmers for one of their new recreational drones. But knowing how things work and how good he is at his job, I'm afraid that one day he'll be reassigned to a less enjoyable project than creating a drone for taking pictures, or that they'll lie to him about the true purpose of his work until it's too late and he has to suffer the consequences. It's probably best to warn him, just in case.

  The problem is that this will have to wait for another day, because today I also have to inspect the Yokota military base to get a rough idea of how the Alliance's rapid response groups will be distributed. After driving there with Wilson, I do just that.

  Since the Yokota base is the closest to my home, it's the ideal place to see how to roughly distribute our combat forces around the world, as well as to play with the pieces until we have the minimum team needed to contain the next attack from the Empire, whenever it happens. It's a very important and delicate job with little room for error. Even though I'm recognized for my abilities, I'm still glad to have the help of capable people like the renowned Alliance hero Captain Cedric (after threatening to dock his pay if he didn't help me) and Admiral Mark as we try to create the necessary composition for a rehearsal before starting the actual project.

  "Good morning, Mrs. Adelis, we have been expecting you," Cedric introduced himself with a fake salesman's smile.

  "Cut the nonsense, Cedric. I asked for a combat-ready army, and I want to see it."

  "Come on, I barely had time to get things out of storage and see if they were at least working again."

  "All the good equipment was sent to Europe during the continental war, almost everything left here is old stuff from the Iraq war and the like."

  "Some of the tanks are even from the first Gulf War."

  "And the new stuff? Probably in somebody's backyard in Belgium being scrap metal."

  "The S.T.A.R.S. team's initiative is based on using the resources we have, not the ones we want."

  "I want to see what we can do with the bare minimum."

  "About that name... S.T.A.R.S."

  "Sorry to say it, but it won't go far. The other officers don't like the name, even Mark thinks it's a bit cringe, outdated."

  "That's why I said it was provisional. I had to put something on the papers. I'm still open to suggestions if you have a better one."

  "Guardians!"

  "..."

  "Come on, you have to admit it sounds good!"

  "It'll look nice on the recruitment posters."

  "Join the Guardians initiative now, talk to your commanding officer to get into the big leagues!"

  "Excuse me, Mr. Big Leagues, may I remind you that I'm the one in charge here? Could you take me for a ride in the jeep and show me what I've been spending the taxpayers' money on this past month?"

  "Sure, let's go, I'll give you a tour of the base."

  "..."

  "Although maybe if ..."

  "The money is to buy tank ammunition."

  "Not to be diverted to your father's farm."

  "The IRS is watching every dollar we spend.

  "These are the guys I'm not even going to risk myself for."

  We got into Cedric's vehicle and started driving around some of the hangars in the facilities, trying to take stock of everything that had been collected in this new project.

  "The first part is our air and transport forces."

  "Yokota Air Base has a serious arsenal of aircraft, quite formidable on its own, capable of reaching almost any part of Asia in 4 hours, probably America in 16 hours."

  "With the support of Mark's Seventh Fleet, which has been roaming around here, we've got a serious strike group in case the green light is given to deploy the troops."

  "Even so, if the bureaucracy doesn't give the green light, I can count on the support of the transports and their escorts to get us where we need to go."

  "As for how to get to the front, that's already done."

  "It's how we're going to fight that's the problem."

  "What did you manage to salvage from here to fight with?"

  "The next stop is our armored division that we managed to scrape together."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "Mostly Abrams M1s, old but battle-tested a thousand times over.

  "Some of them still have holes in them from when they came back from their tour in Europe."

  "It will take us two months to repair the damaged tanks; as it stands now, we have about 15 tanks - a good number for an assault."

  "ONE attack, though."

  "Beyond that? We'll need the rest if we want to survive more than two days."

  "The systems of the damaged units are old, too; they urgently need upgrading." "They're good enough to get by, to defend something important, but things will be messed up if nothing is done about it."

  "All right, Mark and his ships are still in port; we can ask him for his technicians and some parts to try to fix what we have."

  "We'll only ask for one set per tank."

  "We don't need to maintain the tanks during combat as we would in a prolonged conflict - just have them ready the day they're needed, nothing more."

  "The reinforcement tanks will have to make up for our losses."

  "Well, that might work for our goal of not losing to the Empire for 24 hours, but no more than that."

  "And that's exactly what we need."

  "They're in a worse situation than we are, which means we can play the long game and they can't."

  "So if we can avoid losing quickly in their initial attack, we will inevitably win."

  "Well, these are your orders after all."

  "Continuing the tour, here we have our combat gear," Cedric said as he led me to a table filled with the usual equipment that all soldiers tend to carry.

  "Nice bulletproof vest and all that."

  "What exactly am I looking at, if you don't mind?"

  "This is standard Alliance Special Ops equipment. It was what my team used to wear on missions."

  "Category 5 combat vest, X4 series combat rifle, communication systems."

  "Blah, blah, blah - the whole package."

  "It's a lot more expensive than what an average soldier would get, but again, we're working with small numbers."

  "We need to greatly increase the quality of each soldier if we want them to make a difference during the mission."

  "We can't be cheap on this; it's critical."

  "You get me the equipment, and I'll get you the warriors to wear it."

  "I can get things done, but don't expect miracles."

  "Guns and vests are easy, but things like laser-guided rocket launchers. at the other end..."

  "How are we doing on the numbers?"

  "150 Marines ready to go in 15 minutes."

  "These guys, hand-picked by me, could defend a city with nothing but rocks and sticks, and they had to share the rocks."

  "Some of them did it in Germany during the continental war."

  "I don't like it; it's too few."

  "What we're doing here will be the example I use to show the others the idea of a rapid reaction army."

  "The Seventh Fleet has about 600 at all times; I want at least a similar number."

  "Hey, I did the best I could, okay? I've only had two weeks to recruit around this base."

  "I can't pull veteran soldiers from under rocks or manufacture them."

  "It will take time to get more people from other bases in the Pacific."

  "The truth is, I just gave you my best number."

  "Half of them think they're part of some secret project to train more Arksuit pilots."

  "Probably 20% of them will quit when they realize that's not the case."

  "Damn, this is worse than I expected."

  "We have to do something now while we get more soldiers."

  "I don't like it either, but our numbers are really low."

  "....... "

  "Maybe, with a little luck, I could make some calls and try to get the band back together for another tour."

  "The band?"

  "Phoenix Squadron."

  "After the war ended, the group disbanded; we were pretty exhausted after so much horror and fighting."

  "Of the original members... only 12 are left; most probably won't want to come back, but at least I could convince about 5 of them."

  "Better than nothing; the name carries a lot of weight in the Alliance."

  "But even if it's enough to recruit new soldiers, it's not enough."

  "Just let me think a little."

  "......"

  "......"

  "At the very least, we need to be strong enough to hold any position even with the lack of soldiers."

  "Maybe if I use the best units possible instead of doing something more traditional."

  "Something like the people we put together to take back the airport in New York or to take over the Empire State."

  "With a few units, but each at the highest elite level."

  "With what exactly? An ArkSuit squadron?"

  "Good luck asking for one of those and getting it in 12 months, if you're lucky."

  "Even for you, it will be difficult to get something like that."

  "No, not an ArkSuit squadron as such... but what if we invite Elise?"

  "She is very good in battle and has experience."

  "If we let her train a group to fight like her, wouldn't they be a good squadron?"

  "If they manage to listen to the crazy girl at all."

  "Let's do something, find the best, really the best of the best."

  "And let Elise herself filter the people to form the group she will train."

  "The group she forms will have the privilege of being the first elite unit of the Guardians Project."

  "If they can even get Elise's approval, I'm sure they'll be well above average."

  "Not a bad idea; a lot of people like to be the first, even if they don't know what it's for."

  "I can find idiots who will jump headfirst into training without asking."

  " However, how long could the training take?"

  "With Elise upset about having more work? Maybe two weeks, if she doesn't kill them first."

  "The problem will be to convince her to train people."

  "Well, I think it will be easy, the poor girl is never taken seriously because of her looks."

  "You just have to tell her that she'll have a group of soldiers that she can bully for two weeks without repercussions."

  "She'll enjoy it."

  "That's the part I'm afraid of; the last time I saw her threaten someone when she was moderately angry, I wouldn't call it just bullying, more like a real consequence."

  "......"

  "Still, if she manages to form a team, it might be good enough, along with Phoenix Squadron, Cyclone, the new team, and Elise herself, to perform a miracle in defending a city."

  "As for impressing the politicians, just put some pointy things out front and hide the tanks in the bushes."

  "They just have to believe it's a serious threat to the Empire and see the rough setup; we'll worry about putting something real together once they give us the money."

  "Aren't you being a little optimistic?"

  "I'm realistic; Elise is the threat that no one takes seriously until it's too late."

  When the meeting with Cedric was over and I managed to finish the paperwork for the repairs or the new equipment, I stayed a little longer at the base because there was one more place to check. In one of the farthest places from the landing strip were a couple of new hangars, heavily reinforced with meters of concrete and steel; they were part of some recent renovations of the airbase since the continental war. One of them was especially guarded by almost everyone. Mei Ling was waiting for me at the door to let me in and do a quick inspection. She had reserved the hangar so that Momo could have a place to check out the red walker that Cesar had during the war against the dragons. Usually she would come with Mei for a day or two to see what could be done with it. Like today, she was very focused on dismantling the cockpit.

  "I can see you are quite busy with the Walker."

  "Please tell me you have good news."

  Momo was in the pilot's cabin with the door ajar; it was barely noticeable that anyone was there due to the sound of a welding machine running inside and the sparks flying out.

  "Good news? Yes, yes, I have some."

  "That it's good is another story."

  "The Crimson Empress has been without maintenance for some time; a lot of parts are in bad shape."

  "The hydraulic system seems to have been lubricated with salt and sand and left out in the open for years."

  "The data transmission system and cameras are destroyed; the cables are completely charred, as if struck by lightning about 15 times."

  "The propulsion and flight system is worn out; in fact, the exhaust system seems to have been misadjusted and melted several parts of the propulsion system."

  "And some armor plates are destroyed with bite marks, 500 mm of twisted steel with just teeth."

  "Actually, I already found some; they're in that box over there."

  "......."

  "The condition of this robot only tells me that the last battle it was in went very wrong; they faced the main force of the dragons head on."

  "......"

  "I seriously wonder how Caesar is still alive."

  "Some of those dragons could cut through tank armor with their teeth and claws."

  The Angel stopped what she was doing to get out of the robot and organize various rare computer parts on a table; it looked like she was disassembling and sorting everything.

  "From what he said, the Crimson Empress and the other Walkers of the XW-2 series were never designed to be engineering marvels; they were just meant to be produced with few resources and quickly."

  "It's much more likely that they were designed to be abandoned on the battlefield and run back to base to jump into another one and continue the fight, rather than survive an entire battle."

  "........"

  "The thing is, is there any use for the those Walkers? Why did you insist on bringing it here?"

  "Maybe Crimson Empress isn't in good shape, but it's still much better than what humans currently have."

  "Theoretically, the XW-2 series hasn't been invented yet; even though this robot is broken, it's still theoretically better than what the I.S.C. is currently producing."

  "If I can repair it, we will have a better tool to fight the Empire and finally help Caesar rest."

  "Shouldn't it be against the rules for an angel to help humans so directly?"

  "I'm not helping humans, I'm helping my husband, that's different."

  "Besides, it's not like the Walkers are a forbidden or improbable technology per se."

  "After all, the XW-2s were already invented by Rose Raven, right? It's not like I'm inventing blueprints for a jump drive so humans can colonize new planets."

  "It's more like trying to offer them a smartphone four years in the future; it's no big deal."

  "How feasible is it to get it working again?"

  "It's going to take a lot of work, no doubt, but I can do it."

  "Nothing here is currently beyond the reach of humans."

  "Except for the power source; unfortunately, I think I'll need an Ark core to make it work at full capacity."

  "If you give me more time and resources, I could even try to fix serious design flaws like the unsealed and unpressurized cabin, the exposed cooling system at the rear, or the poorly matched propulsion system for its weight."

  "The robot is of no use to us in its current state, but after what happened in Botswana and how the I.S.C. wants to get more of them out there, it's something we can't overlook."

  "We need to have another ace up our sleeve, a new way to deal with the new units if the need arises."

  "Besides, I'm sure they'll appreciate seeing their combat vehicle repaired after such a long time."

  "......"

  "Speaking of time, how long do you think it will take to get it ready?"

  "That's a good question. If I spend all day fixing it? At least a month, but at the rate I'm currently working, it won't be ready until next year."

  "That's a long time, but you just gave me a little great idea."

  "Do you think you can focus on the blueprints and how to build it first?"

  "If we manage to pass this information on to other suppliers like Lion Saber, we could make these improved units available to the Alliance as well, a new unit that the Empire doesn't have yet."

  "And one with which we can easily increase the efficiency of the Rapid Response Team without significantly increasing costs."

  "......."

  "It annoys me to have to ask an angel to help me recreate a weapon that shouldn't exist; I feel like I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing."

  "But right now, having the power to protect my family and end the Empire once and for all seems much more important."

  "Don't worry, I'm doing it for the same reason."

  "After all, this planet is my home now, too, right?" Momo said in a convincing voice despite the mask covering her face.