Глава 7

6:00am

We won't have much time after we take out that recon team.

You're right. We're on a tight schedule.

The operators aren't going to climb into the city from the sand.

Um... we do that sometimes.

But the core city is on the move. It will be hard to get into the foundation levels.

If the operators stand on the sand and wait for the city to pass over them, both height and speed are going to be an issue.

If they can't open the maintenance hatches and waste chutes on the underside, our distraction and our camouflage won't be worth anything.

So our five teams will take a vehicle and use the cover of the sandstorm to approach the city, then employ special equipment to climb into the city superstructure.

We only sent five teams?

We're in no hurry to get the attention of the local Ursus brass.

And we wouldn't want them to send out an attack ship to smash Rhodes Island in the wilderness and kill our employees.

Even if they did that, you wouldn't see a single report on it in any newspaper. The bankers and insurance executives will quietly cross out your name and shove all the lucre into their own nest eggs.

No one will speak of you. No one wants to upset Ursus.

Our neutrality gives us some freedom to move in the cracks between forces, and that means we can't be backed by any power.

We survive by working in secret. Just like when we sent those teams to save you.

Five teams. Leave tracks, cover the tracks; objective complete, objective failed. No matter what, Rhodes Island only ever deploys five teams.

But more teams means more firepower!;......;Even if they're not enough?

Even for a city-state like Lungmen, wiping us out would be a trifle.

You saw the L.G.D. They're as strong as any country's special forces. They certainly have a pharmaceutical company beat.

So why do they need us?

Because this is about the Infected.

Rhodes Island has departed Lungmen, and we're bearing on the next trade port at fifteen kilometers per hour.

We'll be in the wilderness for a few weeks before we get there.

Aside from some nearby Rhodes Island communications specialists and some trusted vessels, no one will pick up our signal. We'll plot a course around all the nomadic cities' known paths.

Even if Lungmen decides to betray us, they won't be able to find us.

But that's not enough, is it?

We need more oomph!;Need to be sharper.;We must have more to stake.

Right. We will need something else to tip the scales.

The both of you turned pretty gloomy, huh?

I know how serious this is, but you don't have to... smile like that, do you?

Amiya... did I smile?

I know you did. Your lips may not have moved, but I could feel it.

So here we are.

...Yay!

No, I have to say this: I do not intend to rebuild any sort of relationship with this person.

Heh. The feeling is mutual.;......;You may be forgetting there's two sides to this.

*Sigh*...

Myself, Amiya, and three of our elite operators will lead the five teams.

We have three combat teams, one recon team, and one spec ops team.

You may want to meet the leader of one of those teams.

Rosmontis! Wait!

Oh... Blaze.

You're badly wounded. Why are you here? You should go back. Go on.

Are you going to sortie this time?

Yes.

I'll get someone to replace you. How about Misery? He's better at assault ops than you.

He'll wave his hand and it'll be all done. Let's have him go.

You don't want me to go?

Yeah. You shouldn't.

You're giving me a weird feeling, Blaze.

This isn't like the missions you went on before!

Because I might die?

Watch it!

You can't just... like... you can't just come out and say it like that!

You're too young for such a dangerous mission. It's not right!

But Amiya's going too.

That's because she...! She's...!

She's...

Amiya...

She's just like me. She's Infected. She's an operator.

And I checked the logs. Ace and Scout are both in Chernobog. They didn't come back.

That means they're gone.

I want to see. I want to know what happened. I want to see who's running Reunion. I want to know who did what.

I want to know what happened to Ace and Scout.

Rosmontis? You don't have to record... that kind of stuff.

...Blaze?

Shit. What the hell am I saying...?

No, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Damn my big mouth!

But, their deaths... They...

Blaze.

I'm the one who's wrong. We have happy memories, and painful ones too. You have to remember them both.

You're weird, Blaze. Your words are all scattered and broken.

...I don't want to see you hurting so much. Why do you have to look back at them? You... you can let go of those memories.

You can put them there, leave them there, and don't look back.

If I don't look... then what's the point in recording them?

If I don't look... then they're forgotten.

I won't forget. I definitely won't forget a single death.

Ha. Right. You're like me. You're a Rhodes Island elite operator.

I can't go in your place. Really, I...

Nng... ugh...

You're bleeding again?

It's fine.

I'll take you.

Oof.

Rosmontis... You and Amiya look after yourselves.

Right. I will.

Do I have to? Meet her...?

Dr. {@nickname}...

Rhodes Island's elite operators, for whatever reason, dedicate their talent and energy to the Rhodes Island project.

The teams they bring with them fully support their work. Because our elite operators, to a certain degree, can directly determine how we use a certain tactic.

But not all of them are... exactly as we imagine them.

You've met Elite Operator Blaze, Doctor. There are a lot of rumors about her, maybe you haven't heard. The truth is, they're a little exaggerated.

But everyone has a different impression of her.

But Doctor, I think... I think you're capable of understanding her choices.

Judging by your reaction, you may have already met the one we're talking about.

Oh? Huh...

Then... we're okay?

Anything else I should know?

That's the basic plan. Honestly, um... it's practical. A plan's a plan, an operation's an operation.