Branches and Recruitment

Inside the command center of the Forward Base:

"The ARS 3rd Infantry Company has taken over garrison duties at Hell's Gate. Accompanying technicians are currently copying all data and have remotely seized control of the Venture Star's operating system, preventing both its premature departure and the spillover of any events occurring on Pandora."

"Major Arthur Morgan is leading the 1st and 2nd Companies in sweep and clearance operations to confirm that the threat in the room-temperature superconducting mining zone has been truly eradicated."

"The remaining ARS combat units have escorted the Na'vi captives to the Forward Base's detention zone, while also transferring over six hundred RDA mercenaries to the base's independent barracks, currently under the surveillance of the 4th Company's 1st Combat Platoon."

"The six Universal Soldiers who participated in the raid have been handed over to a specialized team for post-battle maintenance. Once they are tuned back to peak condition, they will assist the 4th Company's 1st Combat Platoon in monitoring the RDA mercenaries."

"Preliminary statistics for all casualties have been compiled and will be uploaded immediately upon verification."

As all personnel sent the detailed information they were responsible for to the central console, they each provided a brief report to Sui Yang.

Sui Yang, standing beside the second-level central console, continued to browse and synthesize the current situation via numerous holographic screens.

Sui Yang had long since grown accustomed to high-pressure working conditions. He also clearly sensed that after the second space gate opened, his physical constitution and psionic capacity had been further strengthened and increased.

Consequently, Roboute (Guilliman) and Sanguinius were also "strengthened" because of his own "strengthening." Otherwise, Sanguinius would not have been able to resolve Jake Sully's mount, the Leonopteryx, through brute force alone.

In particular, although these two children were not yet two years old, their mental maturity was already comparable to that of ordinary fourteen or fifteen-year-old youths, and their insight and logical thinking far exceeded that of normal people.

Sanguinius was active and martial, so Sui Yang had the company custom-craft a retractable metal war spear for him.

Although Roboute was also martial, he repeatedly suffered losses in front of Sanguinius, which led him to lean toward politics and military affairs. Thus, Sui Yang had the company's entertainment division develop a grand strategy game specifically for Roboute.

Indeed, Atlas's private business interests were vast, ranging from the communication technologies that led the era to factories producing all manner of toys for children.

While Atlas avoided direct confrontation with Vought in the military-industrial sector, it had never once said it would let other industries go.

Furthermore, under Sui Yang's influence, the electronics industry in the main universe was already similar to the 2000-2010 era before his transmigration, which had indirectly influenced every other industry.

Atlas also possessed many electronic products distributed and used only internally, such as individual combat computers and ultra-thin tablets; these products only entered the market for sale when they were about to be phased out.

Atlas's entertainment division encompassed media, film, television, and gaming. Among them, Atlas Games was a subsidiary with its own independent building, fully equipped with hardware, software development facilities, and personnel.

Coupled with the fact that its founder, Sui Yang, was himself a veteran gamer and film buff, he would sometimes offer suggestions and development guidelines to the gaming department.

This led Atlas Games to define what a console and handheld were early on, and it gave birth to many classic game series.

To prevent Roboute from feeling dejected because Sanguinius had received a gift he was satisfied with while he had not, Sui Yang paid out of his own pocket to have the gaming department spend three months developing a grand strategy game similar to a combination of Civilization and Total War, but with details and data extremely close to reality.

The gaming department, having completed the task, received an extra double year-end bonus, as well as more R&D experience and operating funds, and Roboute truly loved this custom game.

Beyond that, over the past year or so, Sui Yang had vaguely sensed that as Atlas's influence grew, his physical constitution and psionic capacity were also slowly increasing alongside it.

The growth was very subtle; if not for Atlas establishing a branch on Earth-01, which caused a more obvious fluctuation as the company's influence extended to another universe, it would have been difficult for Sui Yang to notice.

However, the establishment of the branch was inevitable, and he would have noticed it sooner or later.

Now, Atlas had secured the mining rights to the room-temperature superconducting ore, which would remain undisturbed for at least five years—enough time for the company to develop rapidly.

But Sui Yang did not intend to miss the idea of opening a branch on Earth-02, so when the Hunter Company's 3rd Combat Platoon completed the mission to raid Hell's Gate, they had first completely shut down the base's communication facilities.

This left the Venture Star, anchored in low orbit, completely ignorant of the situation on the ground, knowing only that the scientists had used Avatars and joined forces with the Na'vi to launch a rebellion.

Only when the company's technicians arrived at Hell's Gate and remotely seized control of the Venture Star could the situation be considered truly stabilized.

What remained was for the technicians to board the Venture Star to further collect information and data, so that Atlas could possess the relevant aerospace technology as soon as possible.

But to open a branch, investigators had to be sent to Earth-02, so Sui Yang was conflicted about whether to have investigators carry out this task once the technicians finished collecting the information and data.

However...

Thinking about the ten-year round trip, Sui Yang temporarily pushed the schedule for opening the Earth-02 branch further back; it would be impossible to proceed as planned in the short term.

After all, the space gate's opening cycle was 414 days. Ten years was enough for Sui Yang and Atlas to explore eight universes, and they might be able to obtain warp drives or other faster-than-light travel technologies from those universes.

As for how to handle Miles Quaritch and the six hundred RDA mercenaries, Sui Yang actually had intentions to recruit them.

In Avatar 1, Miles Quaritch was portrayed as a "villain," but through the plot and details, it was not hard to see that this retired colonel took good care of his own people, valued the lives of his subordinates, and possessed a firm stance and will—he was a qualified officer.

To be honest, when he first watched the movie, Sui Yang thought Colonel Quaritch had more charisma than the protagonist, Jake Sully.

When Atlas first extended its influence to Pandora, Sui Yang had a recruitment plan. It just so happened that the RDA mercenaries were satisfactory in terms of combat power and were ready-made, prime sources of manpower.

Using Atlas's elite strategy to screen them one by one, recruiting six hundred soldiers would take at least one to two years, and he would still need to ensure the recruits could withstand the test, ensure their loyalty, and not worry about leaks of classified information.

But the RDA mercenaries had no such concerns. They had no connection to the main universe; Atlas only needed to provide money, benefits, and places for them to spend it.