Surveillance Protocol and Aerial Intruders
"Surveillance protocol. The corporations' movements have changed. We need to adapt accordingly."
Before Anon launched, Sonya gave the briefing.
"This mission is part of that. Their sudden moves mean they won't be fully prepared. We hit them in the gap."
"This one's a solo request from you, Sonya?"
"Yeah, something like that. So try not to fail."
We'd realized just yesterday at dawn that the logistics schedules of the corporations involved in the project had shifted. They were rushing preparations too, but destroying is always easier than defending.
Kuuuuh…
With that, Anon's machine roared to life with its thrusters and pulled away from the mobile hangar.
'I wanted to stay hidden longer if possible… but…'
There wouldn't be a better opportunity. Surely we'd snag some good data. Still, to cover any contingencies, we'd erase all traces.
Sonya monitored Anon's status while handling the backend work to sever the enemy's comms in real time.
The transport fleet's confused comms started coming through.
In the meantime, Anon began the operation.
Kuboom, kuboom!! Shouts and explosions flew back and forth breathlessly for a moment.
Even with exo-frame escorts, that was nothing to Anon.
Sonya, more relaxed now, relayed targets one by one like a broker.
'Still…'
Sonya paused in thought, watching the heat signatures around Anon dwindle.
'Why assemble a transport fleet so suddenly? Did something change?'
From the intel gathered across sources, there were no notable events imminent. Hard to pin down the reason.
A whim from the higher-ups? 'Rushing like this benefits us, but… what the hell for?'
It was baffling.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I told you."
Sonya snapped back to reality.
"Right now, we're the corporations' loyal dogs. Can't leave loose ends."
Anon ended the call and moved without hesitation to claim the enemy's lives.
'He doesn't get it either…'
He seemed like an awkward boy most times, but when needed, he killed without a second thought. In this world, you needed that edge, but it wasn't something you just picked up easily. Humans are inherently sensitive to others' deaths, after all.
'Something's off with his ethics.'
But as the one exploiting it, should she call him out? Sonya brooded with a sour expression before finally clamping her mouth shut.
"An informant inside the corporation says the internal atmosphere has shifted."
Hermann approached me where I sat quietly in the control room and said that.
"The timing's suspicious. Just when we uncovered the ominous truth above, their movements start."
"How has it changed?"
"Something like… they're getting anxious. Bosses pushing harder, project deadlines pulled forward across departments."
"Related to us?"
Hermann pondered briefly before speaking carefully.
"Probably. We were already suspecting ties to the Hive, and the corporation leading that research makes this move right now. Something's up."
"Hmm."
Still just a vague hunch. I figured crunching big data might reveal contours, but no time for that now.
"Observatory data?"
"…Regrettably, it only confirms prior predictions. Something unnatural up there is basically fact now."
It was an extra observation grasping at false hope anyway. No surprise it matched expectations.
"If… there's something up there."
I imagined a vast net draped over us.
"Then humans can't go to space anymore, right?"
"Don't know what it is yet, so too early to say. But it's an ominous structure. How the hell did something that absurd settle in the sky…."
"Hermann, do you want to go up there?"
Hermann halted, turning to me with a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?"
"Why think it's ominous just because it's above? Satellites and stars have always watched from up there."
"That's…."
Hermann scratched his cheek and muttered.
"It's too close, that's why. Close enough to cast a shadow. That just breeds claustrophobia. Can't escape the dread it'll fall someday."
"So you're worried about what's above you from down here."
"Yeah. This earth is our cradle. How could I not worry?"
Then, abruptly, Hermann's face darkened.
"Even if it's the land we've necrotized. Talk about lacking shame."
"If you're scared of something above…."
For a moment, I recalled a distant, foggy memory: a fireball piercing clouds and ascending.
"What if we go somewhere without that?"
"…I don't follow. Explain."
Hmm. Spelling it out feels crude.
"A free place."
"……."
"Somewhere like that."
Hermann seemed to mull my words deeply. But I'd said it without much thought myself—a memory dredged from beyond the river of forgetfulness.
Yet Hermann pondered hard, only speaking after minutes.
"If such a place exists, I'd want to visit once."
"Right?"
But why just once? It sounded like parting words.
He answered that doubt himself.
"But even if it does… humans can't live there. We need ground."
"Is that so."
"No matter how rotting and dying the land… people can't survive without it."
Why the faint sorrow? Was it from me, or his words?
Hermann was right there, but he felt farther than ever.
His unfocused eyes suggested he might feel the same.
"We got sidetracked. Back to the point…."
As awkward silence hung, Hermann spoke first.
"Alert from forward defenses! Multiple unidentified flying objects approaching our position!"
Bam! An operator burst through the control room door with that report.
"Unidentified flying objects? Nexus?"
"No, visual confirms they're far from humanoid…."
"Enough. I'll check myself."
Hermann bolted to the briefing room. I wheeled after him.
No one ordered it, but what else was a Nexus pilot for in this?
The alert was fresh, so few in the room. People trickled in as emergency briefing prep finished.
"Photos of the secured unidentified flying objects."
An image projected on the forward screen.
I narrowed my eyes at it.
"That's… a drone?"
"Too alien-looking for a drone. How's it even flying?"
No propellers visible. More like a sleek UFO. They flew in formation.
"Size? How big?"
"Limited data, hard to gauge. Distance too. But per on-site reports…."
Estimated at about 3 meters. Big if big, small if small. Mid-sized for combat, at least.
"Definitely not manned. That thickness couldn't fit a cockpit."
"Yeah, no room for a seat."
"Any corp product match?"
As expected, the operator shook their head.
"None. No registered machines like this."
"Total unknowns…."
But something about the sleek form and muted gray paint felt familiar. Just an impression.
'Like the Watchdogs….'
Maybe I'd half-expected this. I didn't panic amid the raid by mystery weapons.
Hermann, after the full report, turned to me.
In this situation, the task was clear.
"Rabe."
"Yes."
"Launch."
And so, as always, I climbed into the Nexus to eliminate the enemy.