Chapter 123: final preparation

The golden rays of the sun shone down, illuminating the surface and edges of the advancing line of ships.

The waves of the sea flowed at their regular pattern, as the allied fleet moved forward. The 7 formidable-looking ships drifted forward, as their surfaces reflected an orange metallic sheen, due to the direct glare of the sun.

5 of the ships soon stopped, as they quickly started forming a defensive perimeter around the area. The remaining 2 ships continued their journey forward, as they gradually drifted away from the rest.

After a lot of brainstorming, the allied force decided to leave most of their ships behind. Their destination is dangerous. They did not want to enter a situation, where their vulnerable countrymen would die because of mistakes that they made.

If they were not able to make it out alive, at least their other forces would be able to return safely to their various countries to bring the news of their death back.

The 2 departing ships were filled with soldiers only. The controlling of the ship was left directly to their A. Is this time.

With this arrangement, when they encounter other forces, they would be more flexible and react faster to unexpected situations. Since they wouldn’t be tied down by trying to protect others, it was a good bargain.

According to the calculations from their A.I, they would reach the location of the vault in a day.

All the soldiers got busy, as they got prepped up for battle, in case it was needed. The 2 ships were armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction; they even stripped some from the other ships, to make these 2 have more firepower.

Any equipment advantage that they could get now was completely worth it to them. It could be their lifesaver sometime in the future. Their defense was not left either.

The engineers of the ship took the limelight, as their workload increased exponentially. They worked overtime to prepare the ships, to avoid any system suddenly botching when the battle begins.

After all these preparations, the 2 ships finally continued their journey, drifting forward. They already prepared to the best of their ability, the other variable was how well their future opponents prepared.

…

A day quickly passed, as the Spartan/Dawn alliance ships continued drifting forward steadily. As they got nearer to their destination, they started seeing other ships already stationed at the front.

They already expected to see others, but they were stunned at the number of forces and ships who came for this treasure vault.

Despite a storm not coming, the water rolled and billowed like something being heated, as the ships rocked from its impact on the surface of the sea. Captain Oxford’s face grew grave, his stomach knotted as he looked outside to see the overwhelming number of ships.

“How did so many people get the information?” He was completely dumbfounded, as dozens of ships spanned across this part of the sea, filling his vision from every angle.

Their arrival seemed just like a water drop in an ocean, making no significant impact at all. No ship displayed aggressiveness towards them, so they were able to enter into the midst of the growing line of ships.

From what little they’ve seen already, it seems the battle for the loot would be far more complicated than they thought.

Despite them still being in the dark, they kept their curiosity to themselves as the line of ships kept on growing, following the inevitable passage of time. The number of ships just kept on increasing, without any action being done by anyone of them.

As soon as the time struck noon, both Captains of the alliance fleet received an invitation from an unknown fleet.

They didn’t know the country that owned the fleet, but from their intimidating number of 7 ships, it likely belonged to a country with high-grade military strength.

Despite their doubt and misgivings, they could only suppress their impulses on seeing the leaders of the other fleets boarding the main ship of the inviting fleet. They also got prepared, as they quickly left for the inviting fleet’s main ship.

Clark took the helm as the temporary leader of the fleet, as both Captains’ figures quickly disappeared into the distance.

On entering the large strategy hall of the unknown fleet, both Captains of the Spartan/Dawn alliance fleet discovered that they were late. No one singled them out, as they quickly located a seat in the large hall.

Despite them coming late, they were still able to make out the main gist of why they were called. The unknown fleet didn’t give out their identity, but they directly admitted their status as a fleet belonging to a country with high-grade military strength.

A General led the fleet, directly making them the strongest force currently in the area. After listening to the words of the General, they finally understood the situation better.

According to him, the Nadan republic’s forces were already inside the vault. As the original owners of the information, they naturally arrived before all the others, despite them also getting the information.

From the knowledge he got from his information sources, he suspected that their target was most likely not a vault, but a hidden military underground base.

He proposed a way for all the forces here to enter into the base, without them suffering mutual destruction right away. That way, they would be able to get their price first, before their ships could then get involved in the last surface battle.

Due to his prediction that their target was a military base, he proposed that every fleet should not enter with more than 15 soldiers, to control the chaos resulting from their looting a bit.

Due to him helming his fleet, such a distribution of soldiers will grant his fleet more of an advantage than all the other fleets.

Even though the other fleet leaders knew this, no one pointed it out. First, they also didn’t want the battle to blow out of proportion. They were happy that someone volunteered to take the helm, to co-ordinate them a bit.

Secondly, the influence of a single General coming for this expedition already took its importance to the next level. Arcanite metal alone could not necessitate a General of a country with high-grade military strength coming directly.

Thirdly, before you oppose a General, you have to have fists strong enough to contend with him first.

Though the General could not kill all of them alone if a fight breaks out, they cannot kill him either. Instead, he would be able to single out some targets and kill them without the others being able to interfere.

The General didn’t have to stress himself further before all the leaders of the various fleets quickly accepted his proposal. After tinkering further with the rules, a set of principles were finally set to be followed for the exploration.

Any fleet that broke the rule will be subjected to concentrated attacks from all the other fleets. For the allied forces, they were allowed to bring more soldiers than they allocated for a single fleet. Though they made this concession, the number of soldiers allowed was still limited.

The meeting of leaders was finally dismissed, as all the Captains left for their various ships to re-organize their fleet and choose their soldiers.

Though Captain Oxford and Captain Jack felt bad at being instructed to reduce the number of their soldiers going in, they knew that it was for the best.

After returning, they quickly called for a military briefing. All their high-grade soldiers acknowledged their summons, as they came to meet them in the strategy room without delay.

All the soldiers trailed behind Clark, as they sat neatly according to their ranks and capabilities. After everyone settled down, the Captains quickly updated their soldiers on the new unexpected developments.

The soldiers were surprised that a General joined this expedition. They had only 1 hour to prepare their soldiers, so the 2 Captains quickly re-elected the soldiers that would follow them in.

As an allied force of 2 countries, the General allowed them to bring only 20 soldiers maximum.

As expected, all the 2nd rank high-grade soldiers from both fleets were to follow into the vault or better still military base. With the inclusion of the 2 Captains, 9 soldier slots were directly taken.

They filled the remaining 11 slots, with some of the exceptional 1st rank high-grade soldiers from both fleets.

After selecting the soldiers to take part in the expedition, the other high-grade soldiers were ordered to take care of the allied fleet. The Captains finally started giving them instructions on how to react to different situations, during their temporary absence.

They were able to settle all their pending problems, before the given time of 1 hour elapsed.

Both Captains finally led their soldiers to the deck of their main ships, as the black surface of their armor gleamed under the direct glare of the radioactive afternoon sun.

All of their military uniforms took on the form of a black vest, completely taking the black spy tone after they activated their camouflage and jamming devices.

Soldiers on military uniforms of different colors, stood on the deck of their main ships as they waited for further instructions from the General. After every fleet was prepared, the General finally gave the order as the soldiers acknowledged by diving directly into the sea.

The surface seawater bubbled from the impact, as all the soldiers were quickly swallowed up into its seemingly bottomless depths.

All the soldiers received a tracking device from their fleet, so they all dived deeper into the sea in a uniform manner, as they all knew the location of their target.

Clark activated his multi-purpose military boots, as he dived deeper into the dark depths of the sea. He was finally embarking on his 2nd significant official mission, as a soldier of the Spartan republic.

His implant kept on sending him notifications about his surroundings, as the figures of the soldiers gradually disappeared from the sights of their fleets above.

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