Chapter 244

Campfire, grill, beer.

A burly man with a braided hairstyle sat swaggering on a tattered sofa, holding a skewer of synthetic meat jelly.

"Hey guys, long time no see."

With a pop, Jackie Welles unscrewed the beer cap, stood up, raised his glass, and said, "I've been waiting for you. The storm has finally passed. Come on, everyone, please sit down."

"The Jackie brothers."

With a hearty laugh, Maine warmly greeted him.

Bang! The two burly men hugged.

"I am deeply grateful and cannot express my thanks."

Maine patted his chest and said, "This time, I was saved..."

"Hey, don't say things like that."

Jackie waved his hand, interrupting him by offering him a beer.

"I should be thanking you all. Without your relentless efforts, my best friend wouldn't have made it to the next level. If she hadn't, I, Jackie, would be nothing but a Heywood native!"

Then he changed the subject, "Are the new drugs effective? What do you think of the Vik I recommended, is it reliable?"

"It's not Dr. Viktor's fault, we won't recover that quickly. Thanks."

Falco thanked him, then changed the subject, "But Mr. Wells specifically asked us to come here in his email. What is the purpose? It's not just to see Arasaka's fleet, is it?"

Whew, the wind on the rooftop was quite strong. He looked north. This place was by the sea, and from the rooftop of the twenty-something-story hotel, the view could roughly extend beyond the high walls of the Arasaka Waterfront, which resembled city walls. Over there, the aircraft carrier was already docked at the dedicated deep-sea island-style pier, with figures moving about on and off the ship.

Jackie simply wiped the beer foam from his mouth and tossed him a bottle of beer.

"We're all brothers, so I'll cut to the chase. The reason I invited you here today is not only to discuss your future arrangements and settle the remaining payments, but my sister also entrusted me with something... about the secret takeover."

After speaking, he sat down again, placed the wine bottle on the coffee table, leaned forward, and solemnly asked, "What are your intentions?"

Chapter 239 Ah! The Navy.

Just as Jackie, Maine, Falco, and others met on the rooftop of a hotel in the old seaside town of Chinatown —barbecuing around a bonfire, gazing at the naval port, catching up, settling their final bills, and attempting to discuss their future plans—they were being observed by others on the other side of the water.

Arasaka Waterfront.

The surging waves rhythmically lapped against the ship, and a sticky sea breeze blew, carrying with it a faint fishy smell and the pungent odor caused by toxic chemical pollution.

Under the guidance of Vice Admiral Katsutoshi Murata, commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vera, dressed in a long Melton wool trench coat, boarded the aircraft carrier named after herself to inspect naval armaments.

"Unfortunately, General Murata, there is still no news of that villain."

Touching the enormous gun mount of the close-in weapon system, Vera turned to look at the naval officer attending her, her indigo eyes seeming to shimmer with a Crystal Blue Halo.

The attendant: a male of Japanese descent, who appears to be around 45 years old, of medium build, quite robust, with a mustache, prominent cheekbones, and narrow-set eyes; his face gives off an air of belligerence.

"Although our unit was fortunate enough to kill Solomon Reed, Jonathan Kleisen, the thug who assassinated General Daitsuru Murata at the end of the Metal War, has not yet been brought to justice."

Vera sighed, "This is a wound that Arasaka Americas headquarters will forever remember."

That's right, the Murata in front of us is the same Murata Daitsuru Murata who was assassinated at the end of Metal War.

Reed, who had initially obstructed the Murata family's revenge against the assassins, was killed. Using the captured "The Orphan" as a prelude, the Murata family made contact with Vera. The communication was relatively pleasant, and a relationship was established. This is also why she later recommended someone from the Murata family to serve as the commander of the Seventh Fleet.

"Thank you so much for your help and everything you've done for the Murata family. We never expected you to go to such lengths for us..."

Katsutoshi Murata tapped his heel with a crisp 'snap', bowed to Vera, and said with a grateful expression, "Jonathan Kleisen, let this scoundrel live for now. Sooner or later, I will use his blood to pay tribute to my uncle."

Just don't get killed by someone again.

Vera smiled slowly.

"Drawing strength from your pain... I look forward to the day you achieve your revenge."

After speaking, she stepped across the threshold of the compartment.

Surrounded by officers, they ascended the steps to the highest single-hull angled deck of the Adelheid twin-hulled ship.

A suddenly clear and open view—

The Inner Sea of New Harbor is calm and peaceful.

The majestic island of the warship.

A dense array of carrier-based fighter jets.

A well-disciplined escort fleet.

What a formidable and well-equipped aircraft carrier fleet!

"Not bad."

Vera looked around from her vantage point.

Even from the perspective of the Britannia princess ruling Europe and North Asia in the world of [CODE GEASS], this fleet, whose personnel are not yet fully equipped, is quite powerful overall.

The Seventh Fleet, with the supercarrier Adelheid as its flagship, has 50 warships of various sizes, more than 500 aircraft, and a full complement of 50,000 personnel, including 28,000 naval officers and sailors and 22,000 marines, including those serving at land bases.

Of course, that's the scale after full mobilization.

The reality is that even if war were to break out, it would be very difficult to gather everyone together.

Unless defeated.

Because the Free State Alliance also invited Arasaka to garrison troops, in addition to Night City home port, the Seventh Fleet also needs to be responsible for San Diego in Southern California and Puget Sound in Northern Washington State. The troops are roughly stationed in three locations, from low latitude to high latitude, covering the entire West Coast.

After all, with such a large investment, Arasaka certainly wouldn't have paid for it all out of his own pocket. The fact that the troops are stationed in multiple locations is also to better fulfill the security contract, make the legal basis of the garrison's presence justifiable, and leave no room for any wrongdoing.

Moreover, the Free State Alliance, which has been established for more than a year and has gained a foothold, still has money after it has roughly sorted out its domestic affairs.

If the entire Seventh Fleet were to be crammed into Night City all at once, regardless of whether the forces could be deployed effectively, Deputy Mayor Wilton Holt would probably go crazy. No matter how eloquent he was, he couldn't withstand the attacks. It's better to take it one step at a time, gradually.

"Gentlemen, you've worked hard."

Vera shook hands with the ground crew and pilots lined up in front of the gray-bodied, red-tailed carrier-based aircraft, encouraging them for their work.

"He crossed the Pacific Ocean unscathed, which was blocked by unmanned submarines controlled by the hateful AI and intelligent torpedoes. He truly deserves to be called the 'Azusa Wood of Arasaka'."

Although at first glance, the phrase "Zimu Zhicai" (梓木之材) sounds like "high-quality wood for building mansions," "useful wood," and "useful person," which sounds like a condescending comment and somewhat belittles the person being commented on, it's important to understand that this is Cyberpunk world where officials and soldiers are treated differently. Dismissal means account expulsion, and if a company executive says you're useful, it's because they think highly of you; they can say whatever they want.

Saying "family" or "company pillars" is too insincere and overly polite; they wouldn't accept that.

If we switch to a world like Resident Evil, where unruly people abound and individualism is rampant, Vera would have to use emotionally charged rhetoric, knowing it's all fake but still having to say nice things.

Otherwise, if any employee feels discriminated against and posts it online, she will most likely face a lawsuit.

Although she's already insatiable over there, she's not afraid of being bitten anymore. Day after day, there's endless bickering and a mountain of ridiculous nonsense. The Military Science and Technology Legal Department is incredibly busy, with endless drama of ineffective arguments at hearings.

As for the so-called out-of-control submarines and smart torpedoes in the ocean, they are still the lingering effects of the Great Old Net Collapse and the AI Rebellion at the end of the Fourth Corporate War.

Nowadays, for ordinary people, except for Major Corporations with strong technical capabilities and their related services, long-distance ocean voyages are almost tantamount to suicide.

Those who can afford superyachts and move artificial islands are another story.

Afterwards, Katsutoshi Murata led Vera on a tour of the island superstructure, the angled deck area on the third deck, as well as the electromagnetic guns, laser cannon arrays, vertical launch units, the large flat-panel engine room, and finally to the heavily guarded main control room.

Even after docking, the operators in the control room remain at their posts, busily moving around a row of instrument panels, monitoring the ship's status and identifying enemy and friendly aircraft in this sea and airspace, authorizing passage, and allowing specific aircraft to approach specific areas, among other tasks.

Vera glanced at it, her gaze quickly settling on the newly added shield control panel. She asked, "How's the Blaze Luminous system being debugged?"

"The combat readiness training across the Pacific Ocean went smoothly, and the Blaze Luminous system is operating normally."

Katsutoshi Murata proudly introduced, "Although the technology is not yet mature and the energy consumption is very high, the Adelheid is the most powerful first-class Super Aircraft Carrier in the world. Its nuclear reactor array is more than enough to support the Blaze Luminous."

Upon hearing this, Vera understood.

Is it because it's not mature enough... or is it because it lacks excellent raw materials like Sakura Dite?

Blaze Luminous technology is a type of new prototype weapon in the world of [CODE GEASS]. Its principle is to instantly release a powerful gravitational wave from the core, creating a phase difference space, and then using an energy shield to deflect projectiles.

Let's put the energy issue aside for now.

She had thoroughly grasped this point while simultaneously urging Count Pudding to improve himself.

Even so, there are still many problems in the process of technology transfer. Relying on Arasaka's nuclear reactor technology to reproduce the Blaze Luminous is still a big challenge. First of all, it is impossible to scale it down. Let alone individual soldiers, even vehicle-mounted ones are a long way off. It can only be deployed on ships, and large ships at that.

Only large ships have enough space to lay out shield generator arrays, which can overcome the transmission loss caused by the lack of room temperature superconductors, and have sufficient energy supply to barely operate at the same frequency and activate the energy shield that reaches the defense level.

Even though Arasaka's nuclear reactor technology has advanced to the point where it's practically meant to be crammed into locomotives, helicopters, and even vehicles, if the conduction technology isn't up to par, it's out of the question.

Recalling the Knightmare armored rider's lightness and the drive system made with Sakurastone superconductors, which allows for lossless transmission and storage using batteries and energy packs, Vera can only say that Sakurastone's characteristics are indeed unique.

Arasaka didn't have the necessary conditions, but fortunately, nuclear energy application technology was advanced. In short, so what if there were losses? They would just go for the high-powered, high-efficiency approach.

Katsutoshi Murata took the cassette- Separate Chip from the access bay of the console and handed it to Vera: "Your Excellency, this is all the video and data data from the debugging process."

Conventional brain-computer interfaces lack sufficient throughput; for this scale of data interaction, wireless transmission is far less efficient than directly reading from Separate Chip.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

Vera nodded and accepted it, jokingly saying, "I'll improve it, and perhaps one day in the future, shield technology will be available to individual soldiers."

Katsutoshi Murata jokingly added, "That must have been after we kicked Miles in the ass with our boots."

"I hope so."

Vera handed the Separate Chip to her servant for safekeeping, reminding him. "The more trapped a beast is, the more ferocious its struggle before death will be. Our game with Washington has entered the deep waters. If neither side gives in, beware of risky sneak attacks."

"We will not fire the first shot."

Unless the Freya warhead is ready to harmlessly level Washington, and is prepared to deal with forced interference from European Bank and all business partners who do not want Arasaka to dominate the Pacific Rim and the Americas.

A single low-yield prototype Freya warhead wouldn't be enough...

Vera's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile.

"Hai!"

Katsutoshi Murata bowed a second time in response, and was about to continue his introduction when—ding-dong!

The lunch bell rang.

The aircraft carrier is too big; it only swayed a few times before it was noon.

"Please, Your Excellency, I have already instructed the canteen to prepare lunch in advance."

Katsutoshi Murata reacted almost instantly and extended an invitation.

He had heard of Vera's reputation as a gourmand before they even made contact; she was the one who even made Lord Saburo change his recipes.

He did his homework to cater to her preferences.

"You are familiar with the food on the Moby Whale, but I believe you have never experienced a ship named after your middle name."

"Huh?"

Vera raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Specialty dishes? Lead the way."

"Please!"

As she left the control room, Vera glanced around the room one last time, her eyes narrowing slightly.

That's Geass's mental field.

As cautious as she is, scanning people before meeting them is her basic practice. She checks who has ulterior motives, who is the most hostile, and who has the most volatile emotions. Even if she can't decipher their thoughts, she marks them first.

'Tsk, after observing six or seven people, I can tell they're not simple-minded supporters. They're probably spies, but I don't know if they're Norinobu's, Saburo's, or someone else.'

Vera made her calculations.

Before long, we arrived at the officers' mess hall on the island.

It's very upscale and spacious, with carpet, sofas, coffee tables, and a refrigerator, reminiscent of the classic Yamato Hotel.

While waiting for the food, Vera, who habitually reads official documents to pass the time, took the personal PDA terminal carried by Shinobu and chatted with Katsutoshi Murata while reading the documents.

"The Seventh Fleet's mission is to patrol the West Coast. I've already informed you about the home port of Night City, the bases in San Diego and Puget Sound, but the specific arrangements and planning are up to you. I want to see the fleet's theater framework in place within a month."

She said.

"Clear."

"Keep your soldiers in check. When you're showing off, choose your targets carefully. The Free State Alliance is an ally, so be mindful of the impact. Don't act like a bandit army and incur the wrath of the local people... How many days are you planning to rest?"

"Three days. After replenishing supplies, I will lead the fleet to visit major cities on the West Coast."