Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Hatchery Blitz
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"Merdi!"
As a familiar face stepped down from the high-speed shuttle, Roze bolted over and threw her arms around her.
"It's hot. Get off."
"But it's been so long!"
Merdi shook her body a few times trying to pry Roze off but soon gave up.
Her expression was a complicated mix of emotions.
The ones surprised by this reunion between the two were the group that had arrived with Merdi.
They were whispering among themselves, and from the shape of their lips, it looked like they were saying things like "witch" or "prickly."
"How'd you get here?"
"We gathered all the spare hands we had. The area we're assigned to has been pretty stable lately."
The answer came from Merdi's group.
From the way their eyes drifted to Merdi as they spoke, it was clear she'd been putting on quite the show.
'It's about time to rotate her out into the field...'
Merdi's appearance here wasn't all that surprising.
She and the rest of the Miracle Generation had been showing off incredible skills and making waves, even without official superhuman status.
On top of that, assigning them to the Triple Link region meant they were getting seriously drilled and developed, so they'd be deployed more and more to hot spots like Quvillion Planet in emergencies.
If they lacked the skills, they'd fall behind or die in the process, but who were these people?
In the original story, they'd shot to fame in a short time by racking up massive contributions just like this.
"You didn't pick up when I commed you a few days ago?"
"I was busy."
Roze, finally satisfied enough to let go, asked the question, and Merdi coolly replied.
Having been ghosted on real-time comms multiple times, Roze couldn't possibly understand.
At least she'd replied to emails, or Roze might've stormed her vacation spot.
"And your emails were all one-liners!"
"What am I supposed to do when I have nothing to say? Why would I write about dinner menus in there?"
"That's not the point!"
"Seeing you like this should be enough."
Roze grumbled, dissatisfied with the responses.
But she needed to realize that Merdi even bothering to reply was a big deal.
I eyed the group staring at Merdi from behind like they'd seen a ghost.
'Three superhumans and the rest special forces?'
The addition of superhuman firepower was welcome news.
They could handle outpost defense and join hatchery assaults.
"Is that hers?"
"Yeah. I told you. You didn't check my email?"
Merdi widened her eyes.
Roze chattered on about everything that had happened.
"...Hmph."
The look she shot me wasn't good.
I swallowed hard, gripped by an inexplicable unease, when I sensed a group approaching us.
It was the people I'd seen at the briefing earlier.
'Looks like we need to have that talk again.'
I thought that as the commander approached, looking even happier to see me than before.
*
"You're planning to assault the hatchery with the newly arrived superhumans?"
"Yes. I thought the two of us weren't enough, but with three more, it's worth trying."
"Hmm..."
The commander looked hesitant.
From the first briefing, his stance had been to hold the current position.
Keep the defensive outpost intact until reinforcements arrived, then switch to offense.
"That's a great point! Five superhumans could knock out a few hatcheries in no time."
"But to pull off the assault successfully, we'd need to provide fire support. That would punch holes in the defensive line we've worked so hard to build..."
"No need for separate support."
My words cut the commander off.
He looked shocked.
"To safely infiltrate the hatchery interior, we need to divert the aliens' attention. Even superhumans can't handle being swarmed by that many."
The commander's point was valid.
Typical superhuman-led hatchery assaults required bait to draw the aliens' eyes.
That bait role—providing enough firepower to threaten the hatchery without overcommitting—usually fell to fleets or ground forces. In our current hand-to-mouth situation, full support was tough.
Plus, skimping on bait could mean failing to draw attention or putting the bait team at risk.
"If the superhumans say it's fine, what's the problem?"
"But if something goes wrong again, it could cause issues even after reinforcements arrive."
The assemblyman jumped in to back me up.
He wanted that hideous hatchery gone from his planet ASAP.
He also seemed convinced that destroying it would save Quvillion.
"Commander, we won't fail. And if things go south, we can escape."
The commander held top operational authority on Quvillion right now.
Even with superhumans' independent command structure, in cases like this, it was independent only under his approval.
Acting unilaterally and screwing up would definitely cause problems.
The commander sank deeper into thought as the assemblyman and I pressed the same point.
Success would lighten his load considerably.
"Alright. I'll leave it to you."
"You've made the right call."
"Please don't push too hard."
At last, he reluctantly gave permission.
And his worried expression changed after just one day.
*
Boom!
A faint vibration spread from deep underground.
The signal that the hatchery assault was complete.
"Already the fourth one. We're calling it for today, right?"
"Yeah. We should."
With the commander's approval, we'd moved fast.
We went sequentially from the hatcheries closest to the city, extracting cores and wrecking auxiliary facilities.
We led with battleships as bait to draw eyes, but they weren't much of a threat, so it didn't work great.
Satisfying ourselves with just a slight diversion was all we could do.
But that was enough.
"I'm tired. I wanna shower."
After nearly 18 hours of nonstop action, Merdi was in a foul mood.
She was so on edge even Roze was leaving her alone.
"Share Roze's cabin. It has the best facilities."
"Spa?"
"Pretty much everything."
No one could deny Merdi was the MVP of today's hatchery assaults.
Without her sweeping away every charging alien and clearing the path—bait or no bait—taking even two would've been impossible.
Pure overwhelming firepower.
"...What about us?"
"Of course we'll assign cabins to you seniors too. First-class ones aren't allocated yet, so plenty of rooms."
"Really? Even standard cabins are fine. Thanks."
They'd seemed wary at first, but after fighting together for so long, that was gone.
They'd probably assumed we were jerks because of Merdi.
"Gonna keep this up tomorrow? The special forces and mercs looked beat."
"We handled the urgent ones today, so tomorrow we'll take it slower."
Superhumans weren't the only ones in the assaults.
Two hundred special forces and mercs mixed in provided support.
Without them, we couldn't have hit one every four hours, travel time excluded.
"Got it. We'll head out and rest first."
"Yes. Go on ahead."
The senior superhumans headed to their cabins first, and Roze and Merdi left to shower.
I smirked as I checked the messages the commander had been sending nonstop.
He'd used messages instead of comms to avoid interfering with ops, but it was obvious he was floored by our hatchery-clearing speed, which defied common sense.
'Seven by tomorrow.'
I reloaded the map.
Clear seven more, and we'd wipe out all hatcheries near the city.
That would slash alien numbers enough to secure the city for a while.
But the problem was the hatchery that started this mess.
'Need to take it out ASAP.'
That one was already in late phase 4, early phase 5.
Thinking about the aliens it was pumping out nonstop made sleep impossible.
The ones we'd cleared today were all phase 3s—no matter how many, they wouldn't shift the tide. We had to hit that one.
'Frontal assault is suicide.'
It had probably produced millions by now.
Assaulting it with our half-baked bait today?
Even a Sheila-class battleship wouldn't last minutes before sinking.
No matter how amazing Merdi's abilities, she couldn't handle that many.
Failure on entry was a given.
Still, I was mulling it over because I could see a way.
'Natural caves exist under the other hatcheries too.'
From the first one, confirming the flesh guardian and suspecting tunnels linked them.
Today's checks confirmed it.
Flesh guardians in others too, and natural caves.
Who'd predict massive natural caves underground?
No one would've thought aliens used them to secretly build hatcheries everywhere.
But those caves helped the hatcheries—and were their weakness too.
'Secure the city first, then scour the caves.'
I'd already deployed scout drones to map them.
Knowing the target hatchery's location, once rough mapping finished, I could pick an entry path.
I reviewed the collected data again as I headed to the captain's quarters.
*
It was day 5 of the Quvillion alien crisis.
Day 4 since I arrived.
The dire situation had stabilized after clearing seven hatcheries yesterday and today.
With the main reinforcement fleet arriving right on time, holding the defensive line was no longer an issue.
But orbital observations showed alien numbers still climbing, so the real fight was just beginning.
"We need to thin them out with orbital bombardments."
An ops briefing convened on the reinforcement fleet's flagship.
It started with a situation report, followed by general discussion.
"What's the ground force deployment plan?"
"Thin numbers first, then recover zones one by one with combat mech-mixed units."
"Enough combat mechs?"
"Yes, 100,000 units supplied weekly."
"Good news."
100,000 combat mechs would go a long way toward matching alien numbers.
"Next, hatchery assaults..."
The reinforcement commander looked at me.
I was the only superhuman at the briefing.
Merdi and Roze, plus the two seniors, had dumped it on me.
They'd spent nearly 14 hours clearing three hatcheries today and claimed fatigue, but really they just seemed lazy.
"Could Superhuman Leonard brief us?"
Remembering I'd requested to speak, the commander passed me the mic.
I explained the ops plan I'd drafted from two days of intel.
Thanks to our track record, the attendees focused intently, their faces shifting by the minute.
"Is that for real?"
"Very high possibility."
"If it works, we could cleanse the planet way faster than expected. What support do you need?"
The commander's voice grew urgent with excitement.
"When our assault team—including superhumans—makes entry, draw as much attention as possible."
"That means committing all combat ships."
Things moved quickly.
They found my plan plausible too.
No objections—even if it failed, worth a shot.
My draft plan got refined through the briefing.
And two days later, the hatchery assault op launched.