The Pentagon.
Inside a special conference room.
A group of people sat at a conference table, silently watching the live broadcast bearing the CTV watermark on the floor-to-ceiling screen. When the soldiers armed to the teeth appeared on-screen, accompanied by drones, almost everyone held their breath.
Only after the formation disappeared from the broadcast did whispers begin to spread through the room.
"I wonder what their paratroopers' chances would be against our Rangers..." The secretary of defense was the first to break the silence. He touched the coffee cup on the table with his index finger, took several attempts to grasp its handle, then lifted it for a sip with a show of composure. "We don't need any of that flashy armor. Fighting with a lithium battery on your back is no different from running around naked with a satchel charge strapped to you."
Those words gave quite a few of them some comfort. After all, lithium batteries used a reactive metal for their electrodes, and when they exploded, the spectacle was even more impressive than thermite.
Yet many others still could not shake the worry from their faces.
After all, if even they had thought of this problem while sitting here, there was no reason the people of Hua Nation would have overlooked it. Besides, this equipment was dropped straight from Low Earth Orbit. Even with a descent brake, that posed a considerable test of both the equipment's durability and the soldiers' capabilities.
"...I believe we discussed a similar question last time." Watching the overly confident secretary of defense-or rather, one overly optimistic about the current situation-the White House national security adviser stood, adjusted the glasses on his nose, and said slowly, "That depends on whether they want to engage our Rangers."
The secretary of defense countered, "Battlefields change