"Heh."
Hearing the female officer's words, the army general still looked disdainful but ultimately said nothing more.
"Major General Parangosky is right; now is not the time for arguments."
Conrad Volkov, the highest-ranking officer present and the Naval Operations Chief, looked at the female officer named Parangosky and said, "Margaret, your ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) engaged with their agents last year. It's been quite some time, so you must have gathered some valuable intelligence by now, right?"
Upon hearing this, the ONI officer, over fifty years old and the current head of the ONI, didn't immediately reply. Instead, she used a touchpad in front of her to project several holographic screens into the meeting room.
The screens displayed ONI's headquarters on Reach and the research facility they had established on Arcadia.
Most of the images were from surveillance cameras, showing before-and-after comparisons of the attacks on the ONI headquarters and the research facility.
Finally, Margaret spoke.
"Everyone, Atlas, which calls itself a military-industrial complex, attacked our secret research facility on Arcadia as early as March 4th of last year.
Since the beginning of the interstellar colonization era, we humans have discovered numerous Earth-like planets across various star systems that require no significant modifications to be habitable.
Arcadia and Reach are prime examples of such planets."
As she spoke, Margaret pulled up several more images of ancient Forerunner ruins and continued.
"Initially, we believed Earth-like planets were common in the universe. However, as more and more non-human structures were found on these habitable planets, we began to suspect that these worlds were influenced by other civilizations.
Based on decades of research and analysis, ONI has confirmed that the ruins discovered on Arcadia, Reach, and other planets all originated from the same civilization.
These ruins depict the golden age of an empire known as the Atrimen Empire, known for their high artistic achievements and technology far beyond our imagination.
However, to this day, we still don't know what caused the fall of the Atrimen."
"You're straying from the point," Volkov interrupted sternly after Margaret finished. "Are you saying that Atlas knows more about the Atrimen than we do?"
"Yes," Margaret admitted without hesitation. "For security reasons, ONI has been conducting private research. That's why none of you are fully aware of these events. Now, here's more detailed information on the attacks on the secret research facilities. Please take a look."
Margaret zoomed in on the before-and-after images of the research facility, alongside ONI's analysis reports.
Before the attack, the research facility appeared heavily fortified with no apparent security flaws. The personnel in charge of security were elite troops selected from the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) and special forces units.
Due to the loss of some surveillance footage, it was impossible to know the exact events of the attack.
Afterward, all automated cannons and defense sentries had been disabled, and the elite soldiers were left unconscious on the ground, completely incapacitated.
As for the analysis reports, the officers present quickly noted several key pieces of information, such as:
- "The attack was carried out by a single individual."
- "Footprints suggest the attacker was male, approximately 150 cm tall."
- "The attacker's punches had a force exceeding four tons, enough to destroy fixed turrets with bare hands."
"Just one person?"
"A man? Is it a child, or...?"
"Four tons? Can a human do that?!"
The gathered officers, excluding the ONI personnel, gasped in shock as they took in these details.
While they knew about the alien ruins on Arcadia and were aware of the research facility being attacked, ONI had never shared this specific information with them, not even with Volkov, the Naval Operations Chief.
Margaret then played a reverse-engineered animation, created by ONI technicians, reconstructing the attack.
This gave the officers a more direct understanding of how the 150 cm "male" had broken into the heavily fortified research facility.
"Atlas had a clear objective: obtaining information about the Atrimen Empire ruins," Margaret stated.
"Additionally, the inhuman abilities exhibited by their agents are practically what we at ONI have been dreaming of in our pursuit of super soldiers.
The agent's small stature and weight might indicate that he hasn't fully developed yet, or perhaps it's a side effect of the enhancement surgeries."
"If my memory serves me right, ONI has already begun Phase 2 of the Orion Project, haven't they?" asked the army general from earlier.
"Yes, but unfortunately..." Margaret sighed. "Before the attack on ONI's headquarters, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the lead researcher on the second phase, was captured by Atlas.
If it weren't for Atlas openly claiming responsibility, we might never have known who was behind it.
This... is indeed our failure."
"You can't place all the blame on ONI," Volkov said with a dismissive wave, summing things up for everyone. "Their goal was clear. They had detailed knowledge of the alien civilization and somehow discovered the key personnel in the Orion Project.
All of this suggests that Atlas possesses some kind of 'prophetic' ability. Combined with their claims about spatial gates and parallel universes, it's clear that their actions are... unusual."
"Prophetic ability? I don't buy that nonsense. Their agents are just better than ONI's," the army general scoffed, remaining skeptical, and believing ONI simply hadn't done their job properly.
"It's not just their individual agents that are formidable," Volkov replied, glancing at his old friend before continuing. "Being able to kidnap key researchers from a heavily guarded planet like Reach and using optical camouflage to breach ONI's headquarters are exactly what we envision a super soldier being capable of.
What if they had an entire army of them?
A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?
If they really have tens of thousands of super soldiers, their published assassination list wouldn't just be a simple threat—it would be a declaration."
"Assassinations to toy with us? I don't believe they have tens of thousands of super soldiers," the army general maintained his stance. "Besides, what good are super soldiers? If need be, we'll send a battalion of infantry to deal with one. We have more than enough men."
"General, that's not the point."
Seeing the stubbornness of the army officials, Margaret interjected and displayed the last piece of intel that ONI spies had risked their lives to bring back.
It was a scene from the surface of Eridanus C, showing beams of blue-green energy streaking across the sky.
Moments later, wreckage from a Liberation Fleet warship fell through the atmosphere like a meteor shower.
This intel was known only to ONI and the Navy's top brass, while the Army had been left in the dark.
The Army officers immediately understood upon seeing the energy beams: Atlas had weapons capable of swiftly disabling and destroying their fleet.
While the spies couldn't capture images of Atlas' ships, they knew the capabilities of the Liberation Fleet's vessels.
Most of them were outdated UNSC ships, heavily modified by the Liberation Fleet to barely keep up with the Navy's current models.
In terms of single-ship firepower, the UNSC and the Liberation Fleet were evenly matched, with the outcome depending on the captain's experience and luck.
The room fell silent.
"And what do they want to do?" the army general finally broke the silence, looking toward Volkov. "Their space and ground forces far surpass those of the rebels.
If a full-scale war breaks out, distant colonies like Harvest are likely to defect to their side instantly. And if they ally with the rebels..."
The general trailed off, knowing that if Atlas did indeed form an alliance with the more moderate rebel factions, even the colonies near Earth would be engulfed in war.
"They claim to act on behalf of all humanity," Volkov mused briefly before saying, "If Atlas and the UNSC truly clash head-on, the casualties will be in the billions. Clearly, they don't want that outcome."
"And that's only part of it," Margaret added, her expression serious as she scanned the room. "Their ideology is fundamentally different from ours. The assassination list circulating online isn't just about winning public support. ONI believes it reflects a deep-seated confidence.
They are confident in their ability to dismantle our leadership from the shadows and bring about a regime change with minimal casualties.
The assassinations of corrupt officials are merely a public stunt to spark discussions. Their real targets... are us."
"Us?" the army general was taken aback, then confidently laughed. "What, do Atlas' super soldiers think they're bulletproof? Even if they infiltrated Earth, they wouldn't have enough firepower to breach our heavily guarded military bases."
"Mm."
"That's right."
Most of the officers shared the same view, believing Atlas' super soldiers would ultimately meet their demise against the regular military.
"Don't be so sure, General," Margaret warned, displaying footage from Terira.
"Atlas claims to have visited a magical world, and after thorough analysis, our technicians have confirmed that the images and videos they've shared are neither fake nor edited.
If they sent creatures or weapons that defy scientific explanation, how would we deal with them?"
"Magic? Magic can't stop bullets and cannons, can it? Don't make me laugh."
Bzz—Wooo!
The general's remarks were abruptly cut off by the sound of an alarm.
Boom. Boom!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Shortly afterward, the muffled sounds of explosions and gunfire echoed from outside.
What's going on?
The officers quickly stood up, rushing to the floor-to
-ceiling windows of the conference room to look out at the front gates of the base.
There, a fierce firefight was underway.
UNSC infantry and numerous armored vehicles, tasked with guarding the base, had all mobilized.
Pelican gunships and small attack craft that had been patrolling the skies lowered their altitude and strafed the streets outside the gates with machine-gun fire.
"What's happening?!" Volkov roared angrily at the sight.
At that moment, a major opened a holographic communication link, urgently reporting to Volkov:
"General! Our base is under attack! Please evacuate to the bunker immediately!"
"The enemy has reached our doorstep, and you think we should hide?!" Volkov rejected the suggestion outright and demanded, "How many of them are there? What's their scale? Speak!"
"There's only... only..." the major stammered before finally blurting out the number:
"There's only one."
"What?!"
"One person?"
"Is it that kid who attacked Arcadia?"
Upon hearing the major's report that there was only one attacker, the officers were thrown into disarray.
Volkov, however, grew even more serious and commanded, "Notify all pilots to use ground-attack missiles. Have all infantry retreat and call in the nearby armored division. I want this intruder taken down!
This is a matter of UNSC pride!"
"Yes, sir!"
The major saluted Volkov and ended the communication.
Margaret, however, approached the commander and whispered, "General, I believe we should immediately board a transport and head to the orbital station."
"Are you afraid of dying, Major General?!" Volkov barked.
"This isn't about fear," Margaret responded plainly. "The enemy clearly intends to wipe us out. If we continue worrying about our pride, we may end up with the UNSC in chaos, leaderless.
At that point, our human systems will completely collapse."
As the ONI director spoke, she glanced outside. The Pelicans and attack craft had already fired several ground-attack missiles at the base's front gate.
Boom—Boom!
Massive explosions and flames engulfed the gate area in an instant.
Visible shockwaves rippled outwards at great speed.
But it wasn't long before the sound of gunfire and artillery resumed, signaling that the missiles had failed to stop the enemy's advance.
Margaret pressed further, "General, if necessary, I suggest we use a nuclear strike to eliminate this super soldier."
In her eyes, a super soldier capable of withstanding conventional attacks must be one of Atlas' most elite assets.
Moreover, no matter how fast a super soldier could move, it wasn't likely they could "fly," nor could they breach the atmosphere on their own.
Thus, safely evacuating via transport and using a nuclear bomb to take out Atlas' "assassination ace" was a worthwhile trade.
As for the soldiers defending the base, Margaret saw them as perfect bait and pawns, capable of stalling the super soldier for as long as possible.
Later, ONI could easily frame Atlas as the culprit behind the nuclear strike. After all, fabricating stories like that was ONI's specialty.
After a few seconds of narrowed-eye contemplation, Volkov nodded, heading toward the conference room exit and giving the order:
"Everyone, evacuate immediately."
Meanwhile, at the base's front gate:
Ting—Tang!
Bullets of various calibers clanged against the mithril alloy shield and armor, leaving only a few scratches.
The fully armed soldier boy held his shield in his left hand, fending off the frontal assault while charging swiftly toward the headquarters building where Volkov and Margaret were located.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [www.p@treon.com/Mutter]
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]