Chapter 184
Translator’s Notes: Not even I’m that cruel to make a terrible joke about a wedding. This chapter’s a non-meme. Just enjoy the fun!
Chapter 184: The Co-op with the Third B Squadron [Part 1]
Some time had pa.s.sed after Dias’ wedding, and the A Squad sent news for all B Squadrons to prepare themselves, stock up on food and inspect their equipment. The A Squad were sending people over to install the latest developed weaponries onto their stars.h.i.+ps.
Due to the Sector S incident, all ten B Squadrons had temporarily returned to Vanguard’s base at Sector K whether they were currently undergoing a mission or not. It was very rare to see all Vanguard B Squadrons members gathered in one place.
When the A Squad sent people over to install a new weapons system for the Sixth B Squadron, Beaver, Eudy and a fews people had been watching from the sidelines all the time. The Sixth B Squadron’s engineering technicians paid full attention and examined the A Squad’s work closely. After all, if they went out on a mission and ran into problems, there was no way the A Squad would be around to repair them. They would have to test their own abilities.
Previously, the Sixth B Squadrons had developed several types of weapons using the special ores. However, the weapons developed by the A Squad were more refined in that they reduced the negative threats brought by the previous weapons system, and enhanced the weapons system’s stability by a lot when the system’s offensive and defensive power were increased.
The gray cat began to yawn non-stop after it took a brief glance at the installation. It was called out by Dough to watch the weapons system installation, and it basically figured out the whole thing in just one scan. It was incredibly boring.
After sticking up its b.u.t.t, stretching its body and licking its lips, the gray cat decided to visit the lab and hara.s.s Cillin.
Right now, Cillin was developing antibiotic medicines alongside Rikulab and Tico. All of the news transmitted by the A Squad showed signs that they were about to depart soon, which was why they were rus.h.i.+ng to develop the antibiotic medicines before they left. After all, once they set off the experiment conditions on the stars.h.i.+p was most definitely incomparable to the base’s experiment conditions, not to mention that they would face many limitations as well.
While holding up a test tube, Rikulab’s eyelids twitched when he saw the gray cat walking into the lab openly and jumping right on top of the bench. How on earth did this fellow pa.s.s through the system’s inspection?!
This cat had seriously shocked him too many times already. He itched to whip this b.a.s.t.a.r.d cat every time he saw it, but Cary once told him that even ten of him might not necessarily succeed in the endeavor unless the gray cat willingly subjected itself to beating. What a shock!
"Say Wheeze, your majesty, are you here on an inspection or something?"
The gray cat cast a lazy glance at Rikulab and yawned, "Where’s Cillin?"
"The commander asked for him." Rikulab took a few small tubes away from the gray cat, "This is not a place for you to play. Watch out for those liquid, they’ll hurt&h.e.l.lip;"
Before Rikulab could finish his sentence, the gray cat immediately swiped over a small tube with its claws and gave its content a sniff. Then, it returned the tube back to Rikulab in disdain.
Rikulab shook his head helplessly before he tidied up the tubes. He was just about to speak when Tico started urging from inside the sterile room.
Rikulab picked out what he needed from the medicine cabinet. There were two support robots a.s.sisting him in tidying the items before he put them into an autoclave for several stages of scanning and sterilisation and delivered them into the sterile room.
"Alright, find somewhere else to play, will you? I need to continue conducting the experiment." once he said this, Rikulab walked to a small room outside the sterile room and changed into his hazmat suit.
The gray cat did not stay and left the room with a raised tail.
Rikulab let out a sigh of relief as he watched the gray cat leaving the lab. What a worrying fellow.
After exiting the lab, the gray cat was going to visit the commander’s office and look for Cillin, but it ran into s...o...b..ll along the way and was called to watch a show.
The so-called show was in fact Scarlet Wind’s awkward attempts at shooting. Cary and Tang Qiuqiu were teaching Scarlet Wind how to shoot next to him. Right now Scarlet’s fingers were growing more and more flexible, and he was slowly starting to accept life as a human being as well.
Other than shooting, there was also fighter piloting to learn. Both Scarlet Wind and Tang Qiuqiu were learning how to pilot a fighter, and judging from current trends they might need to pilot fighters a lot more frequently from now on. How could they not know how to pilot a fighter as the primary combat personnel? They must be well practiced too, or they might lose their lives or even cause the death of their own teammates if they panicked in a chaotic battle and made a mistake in control.
Cary dragged the snickering white fatty out of its hidden corner and tossed a gun into its hands. It was a beginner’s gun that fired metallic bullets and was a lot simpler in design. Its recoil wasn’t strong too.
s...o...b..ll, who obtained his ‘toy’ no longer had the mind to jeer at Scarlet Wind any longer. It began practicing shooting with its fat and meaty palms.
Five minutes later, the gray cat let out another yawn from above the items cabinet at the side. It forced a word out of its mouth after c.o.c.king its head and observing s...o...b..ll’s performance for a while, "Clumsy."
The white fatty’s round ears twitched as it caught wind of the gray cat’s comment while it was shooting. It turned its head to look at the gray cat, "Do you think you can do better than me? At the very least I can hold up a gun, but what about you? You can’t even hold up a gun with your claws, can you?"
The gray cat’s ears flicked in obvious disdain of the comment, "Why would I hold a gun for?"
The gray cat jumped down the cabinet, raised its head high and walked elegantly to s...o...b..ll’s side. After look at the faraway target and moving a few steps to the side, it turned around to look at s...o...b..ll, "Keep shooting."
s...o...b..ll didn’t know what the gray cat was planning to do. It raised its fat palms and fired a bullet with a bang, and the gray cat’s tail swung at a speed that was almost indistinguishable with the naked eye.
Di——
"Ten points!" the system’s voice rang.
This was the first time s...o...b..ll heard the system’s voice after it started shooting for a long while. Previously, it hadn’t even hit the sides of the target since he started shooting.
s...o...b..ll’s big mouth opened, closed, opened and closed again. It scratched its b.u.t.t and head with its palms and asked, "It was you?"
s...o...b..ll might be terrible at shooting, but it did not mean that it was stupid. On the contrary, it was incredibly smart. Naturally, it knew that there was no way it could hit the center point of the target with its abilities.
"Uh huh!" the gray cat sat there with a ‘wors.h.i.+p me’ expression, looking very pleased with itself.
"Great job!" s...o...b..ll went over happily to ask for its guidance. Humans have their own human methods, but so do they. The techniques that were suitable for humans might not necessarily be suitable for them.
While the gray cat and s...o...b..ll were investigating the shooting techniques of a beast, Cillin was inside Shawton’s commander office.
The other lieutenant commanders were here as well. Shawton was pa.s.sing down the A Squad’s intentions.
All sides were starting to quieten down after the matter at Sector S had come to an end of a phase. The A Squad decided that the B Squads could start acting again, but with a new twist in the formula. The A Squad’s wish was for the B Squads to cooperate with one another in missions and watch out each other’s backs. Right now, it was too easy for a single B Squadron to run into a mishap.
Two B Squadrons would form a
"The Third Squad?"
The rest of the lieutenant commander looked very puzzled despite much thought. Why on earth had the Third B Squadron requested to cooperate with them on their own? They did not think that such a thing would happen with someone like Falvey in the other squad.
However, when they recalled that Falvey had personally piloted an airplane over to receive Cillin, the lieutenant commanders looked at Cillin and pondered on the real reason within.
Shawton tapped the table with his finger and said, "Alright, let’s not think about the unnecessary and focus on the present. What I want to tell you all is that the Third B Squadron currently has a job at Sector G. Falvey has inquired my opinion on this since our two squads need to cooperate with each other, and according to our original plans our holiday hasn’t ended yet. Therefore, I would like to ask your opinions on this. Should we continue the holiday as planned? Or should we go along with the Third B Squadron?"
"Why is the Third B Squadron going to Sector G?" Akayi asked.
"They’re transporting a batch of T13 minerals to the Robert Family. In light of the agreement, they would be given a batch of robots made of T13 minerals besides a considerable amount of remuneration after the job is done."
"We’re going. Of course we’re going with them. We have been resting for a long time now, and all of the members receiving treatment at Sector E have returned safely as well. Right now everyone is itching to do something. If it wasn’t for the earlier incidents, they would’ve applied to head out a long time ago." lieutenant commander Lu Suo said.
"I agree that we should go too. If we keep resting like this our bones will get rusty." Lalo said.
Wa Qing also agreed with their opinions.
Zaya Kasa and Akayi kept quiet.
Shawton turned to look at Cillin. Although Cillin was also keeping quiet, he knew that it wasn’t that he hadn’t made up his mind yet. Right now, Cillin was considering some other things as well.
Sector G was the biggest manufacturing Sector of robots in the entire GAL. There, a kind of mineral was produced in abundance, and it was a very important element in the alloy materials used to produce robots. Quite a number of big families have manufacturing bases set in that location.
Noticing Shawton’s gaze, Cillin straightened himself and asked, "How much are we profiting from this?"
"It’s an overall four six split. We get a three seven split in terms of remunerations, and a two eight split in terms of robots." Shawton answered.
"That little?" Akayi was a little dissatisfied with a disproportionate split like this.
"They are the ones who found the T13 minerals. If it wasn’t for the A Squad’s arrangements, they would’ve gone to Sector G alone. After all, they don’t want others to take part in their profits too."
"That is true."
The lieutenant commanders began exchanging opinions with each other.
Translator’s Notes: this few months have been a struggle. I didn’t expect much, but man&h.e.l.lip; you guys really ‘in’-did yourselves this time&h.e.l.lip;
Chapter 184: The Co-op with the Third B Squadron [Part 2]
In the end, everyone agreed to head to Sector G. They should be safe with the combined strength of two B Squadrons, and the profits they would earn from this operation weren’t bad either.
After the high level meeting was done, Cillin left Shawton’s office and started walking towards his room. Cillin was thinking about the matters at Sector G.
The Robert Family was regarded as the kingdom of robots within GAL, and some of the members of their family worked within the military. While they might not necessarily compare to some other big families in terms of power, their technological prowess was undeniable. Their wealth and backings were the reason why they were able to stand tall among the big families of GAL.
Some people said that the Robert Family members were born to interact with robots. When Cillin was learning to a.s.semble parts with Mo Heng, he had also brought up a little about a few people inside the Robert Family. Their a.s.sembly overall accuracy weren’t low, and they were an extraordinarily talented family.
While thinking, he heard the gray cat’s voice, "You came back, Cillin!"
It was obvious that this fellow was feeling pretty good listening to its voice alone.
The gray cat climbed up Cillin’s legs familiarly and got up to his shoulder. Its tail slapped at Cillin’s back repeatedly as it wore a pleased look on its face.
"What is it now?" Cillin scratched the bottom of the gray cat’s outstretched chin.
"It’s nothing. I simply taught that white fatty some shooting skills, that’s all." that was what it said, but its tone was a blatant implication for Cillin to praise it.
"Heyo, I see you’ve started tutoring students now, sir cat." Cillin gave the gray cat the face it desired and said what it wanted to hear.
"Oh right, why did Shawton look for you, Cillin? Do we have a new job?"
"You guessed correctly."
"Wahaha, oh my meow I so want to show off my abilities right now! Ahem, of course, it doesn’t necessarily need to have fighting in it." the gray cat corrected itself when it saw Cillin looking at him sideways and said, "It’s real annoying to be stuck here, you know? If the squad wasn’t busy I would’ve suggested that we head out for a spin."
"There’s no need for that now. The entire squad is heading out. However, this time we are not working alone, but cooperating with the Third B Squadron&h.e.l.lip;"
Cillin explained the operation to the gray cat while walking back to his room. He also talked about the robots in Sector G. This undoubtedly drew a great amount of interest from the gray cat, but Cillin had also instructed that it should not expose its ident.i.ty as a half cyborg unless it didn’t have a choice.
Everyone in the Sixth B Squadron grew lively when they heard that they had a mission to do. Cary, who had withered for the past few days had gotten as excited as a junkie again. During the few days they were making preparations for the mission, he called Scarlet Wind, Tang Qiuqiu and Udoze over for a full education and explained some of the countermeasures to take if they encountered certain emergency scenarios during the mission.
Before the operation began, Rikulab finally developed the antibiotic medicines with Tico’s a.s.sistance. This undoubtedly boosted the Sixth B Squadron’s confidence further.
Scarlet Wind gripped and fondled his own combat suit admiringly. He especially loved the hole in his pants and the elastic at that area. It allowed him to put out his tail very easily. After he put on the suit tentatively, he found that the suit was much more comfortable and tougher than the clothes he wore before.
They had to handpick their own portable weapons too. Cillin had told Cary about his wrist blade being slashed to pieces easily after he returned to Sector S. Cary was both wowed by the strength of the enemy’s weapon and saddened by the GAL credits that had washed down the drain.
Every team had a few new members joining in for the big operation, and the addition to Cillin’s team was the weirdest of them all. They had a doctor, a medicine maker, a few animals and a Scarlet Wind who wasn’t completely human joining their midst.
Udoze took out the badge he wore inside his suit. He was very happy that he could wear the badge openly this time.
They agreed to meet Falvey at the s.p.a.ce station outside the planet. A large number of s.p.a.ceplanes belonging to the 2 B Squadrons flew towards the several stars.h.i.+ps parked outside the s.p.a.ce station.
The squad members followed behind their direct lieutenant commander and flew their respective s.p.a.ceplanes into the stars.h.i.+ps.
The moment the gray cat returned to the familiar stars.h.i.+p, it immediately began inspecting its territory after a long time. This time, it took s...o...b..ll, Dough standing on top of s...o...b..ll’s head and Little White along on the inspection. The rabbit Little White hugged and chewed at a carrot as it observed its surroundings. It didn’t need to walk this time, so it looked rather carefree.
Scarlet Wind had stayed back inside a small room Cillin had part.i.tioned for him because he was still young, and there were many things that he wasn’t familiar enough to handle just yet. If he encountered any problems, Cillin could a.s.sist in handling them this way.
s...o...b..ll obviously stayed together with Tang Qiuqiu, whereas the white rabbit followed Tico.
However, the animals would gather together to play everyday. Right now Dough was feeling happier and happier everyday. In the past it was the only animal on the s.h.i.+p, and it could only lay at a certain corner and hibernate alone after it was tossed out of the room by Eudy. Later on the gray cat joined the Sixth B Squadron, followed by the white fatty s...o...b..ll, and now a rabbit. Their army was growing bigger and bigger by day!
Udoze rubbed his face as he watched the four animals lying on the ground and playing a full holographic flying type chess piece game with a serious expression on their faces. Monsters; they’ve all turned into monsters&h.e.l.lip;
The smaller stars.h.i.+ps of the two Squadrons were undergoing a merge inside the main stars.h.i.+ps, which was why an outsider could only see the two main stars.h.i.+ps that belonged to the Third B Squadron and Sixth B Squadron flying in s.p.a.ce.
At the control room inside the Third B Squadron’s main stars.h.i.+p, Falvey was sitting on a chair and staring at the display before him. He was as quiet as usual, and the screen was displaying Sector G’s two dimensional star chart. However, Falvey’s thoughts weren’t on it right now.
The reason Falvey had viewed Cillin in a completely new light was because Nata had told him something about Cillin that day; something that not even Shawton himself knew about.
Not anyone could accurately control the decline of a parasite colony. Falvey had seen the specimens of the two types of parasites before, and he had heard from the A Squad researchers’ evaluation about them.
An artificially engineered parasite was a terrifying weapon. Neither powerful radioactive energy nor conflict of firepower were necessary to deploy it. If these parasites were allowed to reproduce on a normal planet without being injected with a series of death inducing genes that would cause their programmed deaths at a specific time like a robot beforehand, they could destroy an entire planet if things went south.
Nata said that Cillin might the only person in the entire Vanguard who could continue Chamonidine’s legacy, the ‘Parasite Code’ in accordance to its original standards. It’s not that Falvey did not know the value of ‘Parasite Code’. On the contrary, he knew very well just how important ‘Parasite Code’ was, which was why he had altered his views on Cillin by a lot after hearing Nata’s words. It was exactly these words that prompted Falvey to seek out the Sixth B Squadron for a cooperative relations.h.i.+p on his own accord.
On that day, Nata had looked at a doc.u.ment in his hands and said, "‘Grim Reaper’ has G.o.dfather, but we Vanguard may produce an existence who is no weaker than ‘G.o.dfather’ in the future."
This ‘existence’ he was referring to was Cillin.
While Falvey was pondering about Nata’s evaluation of Cillin, the ‘existence’ Nata spoke of was lying in his own bedroom and sleeping like a pig.
Previously, he had slept because he needed to absorb the data left behind by Chamonidine in ‘sleep’ mode. This time though, he had to work overnight with Eudy and Beaver to research Sector S prison’s defense system, and the reason why ‘Mist’, ‘Merciless’ and ‘Grim Reaper’ were able to infiltrate it and cause a system paralysis.
During the next few days, Eudy and Beaver could not endure the fatigue and had to stop twice temporarily to replenish their energy. However, Cillin had not stopped to rest for a single moment. During that time, his vision was filled with densely packed programs and calculation formulas the second he closed his eyes, and if anyone were to voice out some relevant numbers beside Cillin’s ears he would immediately subst.i.tute the numbers into those complicated formulas and come up with the results. It was the conditioned reflex he practiced during the research.
If it wasn’t for Cillin, only G.o.d knows how long it would take for Eudy and Beaver to finish their research alone.
Right now, Cillin, Eudy and Beaver were all sleeping in their own respective bedrooms. He had not even bothered to shave himself. The gray cat jumped beside Cillin, took a glance and gave his messy hair a scratch and a sniff. There was a strange smell coming off it. Just how many days had it been since he last washed his hair!?
After letting out a sneeze disdainfully, the gray cat jumped on top of Scarlet Wind’s little bed, grabbed his tail and rolled itself into a ball, sleeping. The chameleon had said that the days ahead might be a little more difficult than usual, which was why it should hone its strength for the big push. Yes, that was the expression to use alright.