Big Moves

"Captain, what did they say?"

"Everyone return to the transport ship, increase altitude, and stand by. Be alert for anything emerging from the cave."

"Phew, I was really afraid the officers would just give the order to send us down." One of the team members breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Haha, you coward."

"Tch, then you go down there, I'll cover for you up here."

"Hmph, acting without authorization will be punished."

Shortly after the Special Operations Team boarded the transport ship, two Gunboat flew in from the distance, and several incendiary bombs were launched near the entrance to the Crypt, igniting a raging fire.

Black smoke billowed up, and the grassland within a three-kilometer radius was burned to ashes. The dark embers covered the ground, but the view was also cleared up, no longer obstructed by the two-meter-high grass.

"Captain, what are you doing?" The TZ091 team, which was waiting above the cave, watched the whole scene and one of the team members asked in confusion.

The Captain shook his head; his rank was not high enough to understand the full details of the plan.

"It must be a big move by command; this is a pre-emptive clearing of the area," another team member interjected.

"Tch, do you even need to tell me? I know something big is coming, but do you know what kind of big move it is?"

"Haha, look how thick and long this grass is..."

Not long after the fire was extinguished, various ships flew in from the horizon again. This time there were quite a few, as many as dozens of them, including more than twenty transport ships and more than forty Gunboat.

"Calling TZ091, calling TZ091, this is TZ083." A voice suddenly came from the communicator.

"TZ091 received, please proceed." The team member on the other end of the line replied immediately after seeing the Captain nod.

"Haha, is your Captain Winter here?" A gruff voice came through the communicator, the tone shifting abruptly.

The Captain patted the operator on the shoulder and took the microphone. "Mana? Is that you?"

"Haha, it's me! Didn't expect that, did you? I've been promoted too. Now I'm the Captain of TZ083, and my number is even higher than yours."

"Congratulations! We haven't seen each other since we set off. I'll treat you to a drink after the mission is over." Winter and Mana were friends for many years, but since they left Riken Star, they hadn't seen each other for a long time because they were in different teams and on different ships. So, seeing each other again was a pleasant surprise.

"Sure, sure, but we need to be careful on this mission, lest we suffer an unexpected setback."

"What? Do you have some inside information?"

There was a slight silence on the other end, then he said, "Anyway, the officer didn't order us not to say, so it shouldn't be anything secret. How do you think I got this whole brigade?"

Winter was also a little puzzled. When they set off, the other person was a rank lower than him, just a vice-captain, but now that they had arrived, the other person had been promoted. Had he done something great? Since the other person was his friend, he was too embarrassed to ask directly, but he didn't expect the other person to bring it up now.

Before Winter reply, Mana continued, "We also received a mission to find out why a patrol team went missing. We found a cave too, but the previous squad insisted on going down to check it out despite warnings, and they never came back, losing more than a dozen men. So, I, the deputy squad leader, became the squad leader."

"..." Winter was speechless, surprised by the simple and blunt reason. However, thinking back, he felt a chill; thankfully he had been cautious, otherwise he probably wouldn't have come back. He didn't want to continue the conversation, so he asked, "Do you know what we're supposed to do now?"

Didn't you receive a mission notification?

They only told us to stay put and stand by.

"That might mean we haven't sent you the specific mission information yet. Well, we're carrying out the same mission, so it shouldn't be a secret. Let me tell you about it first."

Winter's lips twitched. Was this really a good idea? But before he could stop him, Mana continued, "See those ships next to us? These are Special Operations Team carrying out missions nearby. They were ordered to come and lead the charge. The main force just departed from the orbit and will be here for a while."

"What big move are they planning?" Winter asked curiously, no longer caring about anything else.

"That's for sure. It's said to be a large-scale operation involving tens of thousands of people."

So many? Is it that dangerous down there?

"I don't know how dangerous it is, but it's too narrow down there, the formation can't spread out, so having more people wouldn't help. Apparently, the higher-ups are aware of this problem, so they sent an engineering team down to dig a tunnel. We're just providing cover, so the danger shouldn't be too great."

"Sounds pretty good."

Soon, the main force that Mana had mentioned arrived.

Hundreds of transport ships and Gunboat descended from the sky in a grand procession, with large metal modules and parts suspended beneath them and airdropped directly onto the scorched earth.

Then, some engineering machinery was unloaded from several large transport ships, each 50 meters long, and together with thousands of Engineer Ant transported on smaller transport ships, they began to quickly assemble the equipment.

Along with the fleet came 5,000 soldiers who set up makeshift fortifications around the assembly site. Special attention was paid to the direction of the cave entrance, and many landmines were even laid around it.

Commanders in orbit around the planet are watching the live broadcast through observation devices on numerous spaceships and soldiers' Personal Terminal.

"Is the other side really not a hidden civilization or race?" a captain asked doubtfully. Although they had previously guessed that it was most likely some kind of awakened ancient species underground, they could not rule out other options.

"It seems so. We deliberately assembled the equipment in a grand display at the cave entrance. If the other side is intelligent enough, they probably won't be able to tolerate it." The large construction site below is actually a trap. If anything underground can't resist rushing out, the hundreds of Gunboat hidden in the sky will surely give them a surprise.

"On the contrary, it's only wild beasts that can't tolerate harassment at their doorstep. The fact that they can endure this much shows that they possess advanced intelligence," a captain objected.

"That makes sense," a captain agreed.

"But according to records, wild animals also have the ability to seek advantage and avoid harm. If they are faced with an enemy they cannot defeat, they will also back down," a captain countered.

Due to the high degree of mechanization on the Mother Planet of the Riken Race, wild animals have become virtually extinct, and the few survivors are carefully raised in botanical gardens and have long lost their wildness. The other Colony Star are not Life Star and therefore do not contain any life.

Therefore, their knowledge of wild animals comes only from videos and books, and they can only guess about some situations.

"Stop arguing, the answer will be clear soon. Given that the last attack took place at night, have the soldiers be on high alert tonight."

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