Black Market Merchant

Chapter 237: Sample (2)

"Mayor Bakersfield!"

The mayors head popped up from the papers piled on his desk to see his lead secretary had busted into his office with a worried look. What has happened now?

The secretary quickly brushed her ear length blond hair behind her ear as she relayed the message on her tabloid. "There has been an attack on our forces outside of the plasma wall! Three drones and a defensive line tank are already damaged by sniper like attacks."

Mayor Bakersfield jumped up from his seat and hurriedly pressed past the secretary who followed closely behind him as they headed down the wide black tiled floor of the Capitol building. The mayors face looked exhausted but the glow in his brown eyes and the pep in his step told everyone he still was serious.

The lead secretary matched his hurried pace and further updated him as more information arrived in her inbox. The city Defense Minister, Zacharia, is already organizing the situation. As of yet, no identification of the attackers has been made, nor their intentions. The citizens are so far unaware of the attack as well, so no threat of rioting like when the hoard attacked.

There is always a silver lining to things, however, their intentions are clear. Mayer Bakersfield snorted indignantly. He then came to an elevator and pressed his ID badge to its control panel. Raiders and bandits would not dream of openly engaging our large forces and hope to win. So, the town is not going to become directly in danger. The only thing that could interest anyone, or a government I should say, is the Hoard Mother corpse. The scientific prospects alone would tempt even the most conservative of governing bodies to try and claim a piece of the corpse for themselves.

The elevator door opened with a heavy woosh and the two entered. The blond secretary quickly typed a few lines of dialogue into the tabloid and submitted it just moments before the elevator started to drop. For when it did drop, the speed was uncomfortably fast that the both of them were forced to hold onto railing that lined the elevator. They were going down the Basement as it was nicknamed.

The Basement was where the cities defensive and emergency measure headquarters was located and being directly under the Capitol building made accessing it for the cities governing officials easy to reach. Being far underground and in the exact center of the city made it the best place to be in during any event of attack or disaster. Like a spider in the center of its web, this headquarters mirrored that concept by providing all the cities information, CCTV video surveillance, power structure, and emergency supplies were organized from this location.

The elevator made a tummy tingling stop as the air brakes halted its near free-falling speed. A half second later the doors whooshed open to reveal a long grey black marbled hallway lined with several secure looking metal doorways. Mayor Bakersfield and the secretary marched straight ahead towards the main doorway flanked by two human soldiers dressed in the citys pale green military uniform and two white plastic humanoid robotic security droids.

Mayor Bakersfield quickly lifted his badge up to one of the security droids chests center where just above the blue Police painted label was a camera. The secretary did likewise with the other Police droid. As the cameras scanned their badges QR code the closest soldier raised a hand to his ear radio.

Giving a nod the soldier addressed to the mayor. Mr. Mayor, the Defense Minister is already at the surveillance station and mobilized a retaliatory force. He asks that you join him there.

The Police droids eyes blinked blue just then under the blue police hat it wore. Confirmed. Its cheery male voice announced. Please proceed.

The main doors slid silently open, and the mayor and secretary entered swiftly. They entered the high ceiling, circular room that was full of hubbub and never-ending urgency as civilian and military personnel hurried about to handle the ongoing situation. Phones range, people yelled over one another, and the furious sound of computer key ricocheted from every angle. At the center of all this organized chaos was the Defense Minister Zacharia Quin.

With a confident expression on his aged, ridged face Zacharia was every centimeter a military man. From his gray jarhead buzzcut to pale green uniform and sharp black shoes, he looked like being in charge was where he belonged. Currently he was silently looking upwards at a globe-like display of monitors that hung down from the ceiling. For now, these monitors showed what was going on all around the attack site and of the dead Hoard Mother from both drone and CCTV footage.

What are you thinking, Zacharia? Mayor Bakersfield called out as he joined the defense minister.

That its all a diversion. Zacharia replied gruffly in his normal military manner. Its a fairly obvious sporadic attack coming from the hills outside of town. The drones and tank attacked so far were only doing surveillance and its clear they want eyes on those hills. I suspect there are AI controlled units doing the shooting, far to accurate to be otherwise. I doubled down on the number of cameras to keep an eye on the Hoard Mother corpse, which is clearly going to be the attackers objective.

I suspected the same. Mayor Bakersfield answered as he and the secretary flanked the defense minister. Though with our defenses there isnt any way they can try to steal something that large from us and get away with it.

True enough. Zacharia replied. All we can do for the moment is wait for them to make the next move before sending out the retaliatory force. Three attack choppers and four ICAD 18s squads are ready to engage as we speak.

Good. Mayor Bakersfield said giving a nod as he surveyed the monitors that showed very little action save for a few tanks or artillery units that were moving into position. Once we find out who these attackers are there is going to be hell to pay. Its been bad enough dealing with the hoard, the riots in the lower districts and convincing all the foreign investors that it is safe to business here again. I dont need any more paperwork on my desk.

Zacharia gave a tight grin hearing this and he glanced sideways at the mayor. Dont we all?

Special Officer Hawkins had his hands clasped nervously in front of his face as he leaned forwards onto his knee. His eyes were glued to the ships window screen which displayed the twenty-five unnamed robots camera feeds. Each of the Light Class Robotics Transportation (LCTR) hover crafts could carry thirty of these units and these twenty-five were the main attacking force sent to claim the target. The other five units were put under IO Gills charge while the Assistant Observer took over the Osprey Drone.

Hawkins and the other soldiers monitoring the missions progress could see that these unnamed units were swiftly making their way through the completely dry rocky creek bed at an unprecedented pace. Clearing boulders and skirting tight spaces with ease not one of them exposed their selves to the surface above. For now, it seemed they were not spotted.

IO Gill, have the city defenses taken the bait? Hawkins called out without looking way from the monitors.

Doesnt look like it. Gill replied from behind the Special Officer. The entire hover ship had been hollowed out to accommodate a mobile control room. Aside from the horseshoe shaped control panel at the front of the ship there was a secondary circular control station amid the supplies and weapons stored onboard.

Also, from behind came the Assistant Observers voice. The defenses around the Hoard Mother are all active and look to be prepared for an attack. They arent moving to engage the detached forces either.

What of the target? Is the transportation unit still underway? Hawkins asked.

Yes sir. The Assistant Observer answered. No changes in their speed or route. Our unnamed units will intercept the target in less than two minutes.

Hawkins unclasped his hands and typed a code into the control panel before him. Alright men, report anything right away. The A group robots have nearly arrived at the creeks crossing and now we see how they handle the ICADs. I just authorized the manual takeover of the units if the situation demands it. Though I want as much AI managed attacks as possible for the sake of the mission.

Understood! The rest of the soldiers lined up next to him at the horseshoe shaped control panel chanted together.

These eight soldiers then all put on black virtual reality (VR) goggles that were all connected to the incoming feed from the unnamed units. Additionally, they attached to their temples a device that monitored their thought process and eye tracking so that their minds would covertly control the movements of the unnamed units. Then holding two handheld controllers they got them ready to use them to aim and shoot the weapons the unnamed units had installed in both arms.

Focusing back on the unnamed units progress Hawkins could see the low laying bridge that crossed the creek. Its simple arch structure and two-lane road was nothing impressive nor did it proved any cover for the unnamed units to hide under. As programmed the units were to attack as soon as they came within sight of the transportation force approaching.

Splitting into two equal groups, one on each side of bridge, the unnamed units raised their weapons in preparation. Rather than using conventional weapons these unnamed units had one arm replaced with a midsized, mounted laser rifle called an Arc Beam Cannon (ABC) which is capable of shooting lasers far superior to the ZKZM-7000 that the standard AFR personnel used. They were currently equipped with these laser Arc Beam Cannons due to the stealthy aspect they provided.

Then, if need be, these units could have the arm replaced with a conventional gunpowder LMG weapon called a FiNN Series X2G. This large gun was belt feed with bullets coming from a large backpack that would incase the already large power battery installed on the small of the robotic units back. The other arm of these unnamed units resembled a humans and not used for normal combat situations. The hand was highly sophisticated for touch and gentle handling of small items so that it can interact with objects or equipment designed for humans, like computers, doorknobs, or even lightbulbs.

In mere seconds the unsuspecting transportation force would be under attack and the unnamed units of group A would only have seconds to take out the ICADs, disable the transport truck, and deploy a smokescreen. Hawkins could only hope that the attack would not be anticipated, and they could get to the trucks contents before reinforcements arrived. If he failed, he knew any chances of staying in his newly promoted place within Operation Chess would be gone.

His eye suddenly caught sight of movement on the footage from the unnamed unit A-14 as something large began to cross the bridge. It was the lead ICAD and behind it was the transportation truck!

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