"Gate...?"
"That refers to a strategically built fortress. It's like a wall that was created to ensure enough time to safely transport factories. I just came from there and, luckily, everything went smoothly."
"Well, that’s a relief."
Statesboro Forward Base.
However, aside from the fact that the appearance was almost identical, everything else was different. There were no people listening to me, Jin, or Rain, no busy users running around outside, and even Jin and Rain, who would usually be rushing around handling various tasks, were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, there was one addition: Mav. People who had heard the story just now would have guessed it, but this was the Statesboro Forward Base of another world. There were no people walking around, no unmanned trucks moving supplies, and this was a space that included Jin, Rain, and Mav.
The reason we came here today was simple. It was to briefly convey the progress of the current Operation Wasted Silver. Technically, it wasn’t a pressing issue for 'here', so to be honest, we were just here to chat.
Lapland and Race had been asking about what was happening down below or up above, but... I think I’ll leave that for later as a source of enjoyment.
As they both said, they now had to focus on growth and prosperity.
Mav waved his hand, and began to briefly show me the status of the remaining Artemis forces, which had gradually been erased from the map.
Naturally, unlike the world on the other side, the remaining forces here were... literally 'remnants'. They were so insignificant that with a wave of a hand, they could be swept away. With a waypoint set and borrowing some shadows, it was no problem to clean them up.
Looking at it that way, the people here were... technically on assignment, but in reality, they were probably spending time closer to vacation. Just look at the Dagger Team and Laser Team having fun playing basketball outside.
Following that, Mav continued.
"Well, as you can see. Thanks to the archetype, the situation here is very peaceful. Looks like this time, unlike last time, the other world’s version of me didn’t burn the archetype. If that had happened, I would’ve been here for revenge, but... I didn’t come, right?"
"Revenge is obviously a joke. Anyway... I thought so. The real reason I came today is partly for a mind map, and rather than you telling me about what’s happening here, I think it’s more important for me to tell you how things are going on the other side."
"Mind map... I’m not so sure about that."
"Don’t worry. Once you hear it, you’ll get curious."
Mind Map.
In other words, before starting an operation or even in the middle of one, or for any other... tricky issues that can’t be figured out alone, it’s when multiple people keep offering their thoughts, exchanging information, and discussing things back and forth.
To be honest, this was the best way for me to understand what I was missing or what I was misunderstanding. It was the method I became most familiar with after I ended up in New York and started working with my senior officers.
First, I had to give the basic explanation.
"So, on the other side, the allied forces are planning to begin the factory raid before all the remaining gates are breached... I want to discuss how that’s going to go with all of you. Just think of it as a casual chat and feel free to speak up."
"Hmm... a factory raid. How big is this factory?"
"900 meters by 250 meters, with a height of about 50 meters. There are multiple large structures like this. I heard Artemis is planning to dismantle and move the factory, but... strangely, the aerial reconnaissance data has been hard to gather recently."
"900 meters by 250 meters, 50 meters high? They’re going to dismantle and move something that massive? That doesn’t make sense; it would take an enormous amount of energy. Even if they break it into pieces, before moving it, the ground would collapse."
I knew that much too.
I then gave a few major premises.
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First, despite the gate being breached, Mav’s ion cannon didn’t fire - although this wasn’t a very important premise. It might be because they wanted to protect the remnants of the gate, or maybe they didn’t think it was worth attacking since it was already breached.
Second, it’s nearly impossible to catch it with satellite surveillance or micro UAVs. To be precise, even if you took satellite images, it was nearly invisible. This could be due to some ultra-large optical device, but the bigger problem was the UAVs, which kept crashing due to jamming.
When I finished explaining, the response followed.
"Jamming causing crashes... is that ECM, or is it an electronic attack (EA)?"
"That’s possible, but it might just be an EMP field. Didn’t they say it’s a factory? It’s possible that they formed an electromagnetic pulse field through the factory's power supply."
"You said the factory’s moving in real-time. Maybe it’s being broken into pieces and moved, but EMP or EA in that situation? How does that work?"
"If they’re using those two as a single energy source, then it’s possible."
At that moment, I heard a heavy voice from behind. Someone I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Jordan Royden. Senior Researcher at DARPA.
I wondered why he was here, and then he handed me his business card. It said something about humanoid robotics, so it seemed like he was dabbling in that field now too. Anyway, he seemed like someone who could be really helpful. Jin, Rain, and Mav had also greeted each other since they knew him.
His bright green eyes were staring directly at me.
"To move the factory pieces, which must weigh thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons, even caterpillars would be insufficient. Especially for a factory that handles humanoid production, stability is critical. Even though Georgia is full of flatlands, trying to move something like that doesn’t make sense."
"Then what do you think, Jordan?"
"EMP, ECM, EA... The huge amount of power being used is creating byproducts that are blocking Icarus’s information gathering. Given how electromagnetic waves are generated, we can also make a rough guess about how the transportation works."
Electromagnetic wave generation, EMP, ECM, EA...
To generate such enormous electromagnetic waves that can conduct electronic warfare, something with a huge current must be going on inside or outside the factory... and it’s highly unlikely that the factory is still running while producing humanoids.
What could it be? As I was thinking that, Jordan made the final point.
"The chances are high that the factory is moving in real-time without the use of caterpillars. I also see robots equipped with Faraday cages in the satellite photos... I have to admit, Artemis is definitely crazy."
"Wait, then...?"
"Yeah."
If you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t even notice the silvery lines in the satellite photos.
As he softly touched it, he continued.
"It looks like Artemis is using superconductors and the principle of magnetic levitation to move the factory in sections."
"That’s insane."
"Of course, after securing more photos and data, we might find different results, but based on the current circumstantial evidence, that’s what it looks like. Artemis and their team have really thought this through."
"Hmm, this is getting more complicated than I thought..."
I just came to discuss things casually, and now a huge secret was being revealed.
At this point, there were a few things I had to confirm.
"First, to stop the factory, we’d have to destroy the tracks, but the problem is, if they’re pulling that kind of power to do this, won’t there be issues with conducting operations nearby?"
"Icarus gear is already fully shielded from EMP, so it shouldn’t be a big problem, but getting close enough to destroy something like the tracks would be annoying. A well-placed anti-matter missile would probably do some damage, right?"
"We’re assuming that as a basic premise. But we’ll need to secure mobility as much as possible."
"Hmm..."
He thought for a moment and added.
"I’m not sure about the exact output, but if you directly expose yourself to the weapon that processes the electromagnetic waves generated when moving tens of thousands of tons of factory sections, you’ll have a hell of a time. We also have to consider enemy attacks... But if we get inside the factory, things will be different."
"In that case, we should be fine just getting inside. We could bring a zipline or something to attach to the wall, and infiltration shouldn’t be too difficult."
"Hmm..."
Suddenly, Jordan’s expression shifted to something more sinister. What should I say... It looked like he had just come up with something very interesting.
He grabbed a pen and started sketching something that looked like a missile. When he showed the result, there were some question marks, but the sharp arrowhead at the front and the hundreds of meters of rope connected to it made it very clear what he was thinking.
"It’s not very realistic, and it’s probably better to approach with a vehicle shielded from EMP, but... I think it’s worth imagining once."
"...What is this?"
"It’s a... zipline missile."
He chuckled and added.
"Wouldn’t it be fun to catch the fleeing factory and stop it?"
At that insane idea, I nearly lost my mind.
"Ugh, this is crazy..."
"Yujin, where did you go? Icarus just released the factory raid trailer!"
"Is Icarus a god now? From now on, I’m one with Icarus! Disrespecting Icarus is like disrespecting me!"
"...I thought something like this would happen."
Several hours later, Dark Zone.
Returning, I had to watch the Icarus factory raid trailer, which was filled with all kinds of dazzling details.
This is insane, really.
"Let’s summarize the content. From what I see, this raid is sort of a... chase. I never imagined a raid like this."
"Exactly! How did they think they’d make the car chase through the base the main focus of the raid? This is beyond imagination, right?"
"That’s one thing, but why are you so excited?"
"Aaaah!"
I patted Mina’s hair, who was sitting on my lap, as I added.
I couldn’t see her face, but judging by her posture, she was definitely wearing a very enthusiastic, excited expression. No need to see it, it was obvious. This time, it looks like driving techniques straight out of an action movie... would be needed. She probably knows her turn’s coming up.
Anyway, despite that, the trailer was... incredibly well made.
With the factory platform rising into the air by tens of meters, hundreds of meters long, missiles were launched, and wheeled UGVs slid down ramps and approached the friendly vehicles.
It felt like watching a near-future cavalry fight. The only difference was that they were in Faraday-cage-equipped vehicles, and instead of spears, they had cannons.
The users in the vehicles used machine guns to take out the drifting UGVs, while others shot through windows.
The ground turned a deep red as the driver swerved the wheel to avoid it, while missiles and laser weapons from the factory platform started tearing up the ground. One UGV, following behind, flipped over and exploded in the churned-up earth.
In the distance, a black motorcycle with two riders picked up speed, and when the user on the back got close enough to the factory’s rear, they shot a zipline that latched onto something solid. As the winch retracted, the motorcycle flew into the air and landed behind the factory.
With the zipline in place, more allies followed suit.
"I guess this is going to be like a bridgehead, fighting the Artemis enemies inside while clearing the area during the chase... This is going to be insane."
"Right. But it looks like they’re not blowing up entire blocks this time."
"That’s not impossible, but honestly, there’s no reason to. There will be dozens of these blocks, and destroying them would be a hassle. It’s far better to use them as staging points for our forces."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
The operation zone is about 40 km in size.
The blocks are moving very slowly, but if there are about 15 of them scattered around, destroying each one would be a pain. Plus, as the walls open up, the interior can be freely modified, which means we could make better use of them.
If Artemis is overseeing the factory, maybe we can have Jin and Rain do something interesting here.
For example... just like Mav did in Savannah, if we create railguns or plasma cannons and intercept the factory blocks... Artemis would lose their minds, but it would be a ton of fun for us.
I informed Jin and Rain from this world about that and checked the remaining time before the raid opened.
"About 3 hours left. Based on the fact that the trailer was released hours ago, they must’ve set a trigger to upload it automatically to Icarus’ official website and YourSpace channel when the gate was breached."
"Very... systematic."
"Yeah, I don’t think they expected the trailer to be released this quickly."
That said, my gaze shifted to somewhere else.
We were approaching the end of November, and if we delayed too much, Harmony and Dice might not make it to the end of the raid before having to fly back to America.
But instead of explaining all of this, I added.
"...Anyway, let’s loosen up a bit before the raid starts."
"I figured you’d say that."
"Kato probably saw this coming too, right? Eh, maybe not."
"...Yep, I’ll follow."
With a strange noise, Kato got up, and with Olivia joining soon, we’d have five people. That should be enough firepower.
The chase was calling us.