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Corpo Age - Chapter 257: Strike Force
🕑 Added 2025-01-17 18:20:46 +0000 UTCAs the ambushers rained down projectiles and explosives at us, several guards from SocialCorp activated a large energy shield that enveloped the entire entrance to the shipyard.
We were quickly ushered into the building while they held off our enemies.
“Get to someplace secure. We should be able to deal with it within the hour!”
“No, need. We’ll help out with the defense.”
“Sir, our orders are to ensure your safety. Please don’t expose yourself to unnecessary risks.”
“It’ll be fine. We’re just going to be sniping them from a comfortable distance.”
“That—”
I didn’t bother to listen to the guard any longer and quickly got into position. We rode the elevator to find ourselves an elevated position and began assembling our Light Judgement into its rifled form.
We made ourselves comfortable at one of the offices and took aim through the window. The numerous cameras around the building highlighted the targets for us, so we just needed to aim and fire.
The particle beams lit up the room and melted straight through the windows, announcing our presence on the battlefield, but only a few noticed. The fighting outside had gotten too chaotic for them to notice one or two attacks. It was also because our weapons failed to penetrate their energy shield.
The quality of the forces in this struggle was obviously higher than anything we experienced. Both sides were either from or being supplied by the biggest corporation. Their equipment was all top-of-the-line.
It didn’t matter, though. If we couldn’t eliminate them with one shot, we’d just keep shooting. Both sides were trying to overwhelm the other side’s energy shield first.
Unfortunately for our foes, they were on our turf. NPC consolidated control around Earth, while Silas had his foothold around the space colonies. That meant we had reinforcements, and they came quick.
Their plan only had a chance of succeeding if they caught us off guard. Since their initial attack was repelled, their fates were settled. That didn’t mean I stopped shooting, though. Gaining experience points had somehow become the crux of this war.
Even with the local reinforcements, I never stopped shooting. After the fighting was done, I took a moment to inspect my status.
Status
Level:
39
EXP:
2380/3900
Musculoskeletal:
358
Neural Reflex:
191
Visuomotor Coordination:
207
Endurance:
132
Sensory Perception:
155
Upgrade Points:
0
Upgrades:
Stealth +7
Hacking +5
Cybernetic Engineering +10
Stealth Technology +12
Software Engineering +12
Electrical Engineering +10
Aerospace Engineering + 10
Particle Physics +11
Enhancements:
SAID: Halls Corp Grand Maestro Elite v1
Bio-Coprocessor: Halls Corp Flash Elite v1
Optics: Halls Corp Monocle Elite v1
Cyberarm (Left): Halls Corp Talos Elite v1
Cyberarm (Right): Halls Corp Talos Elite v1
Cyberlegs: Halls Corp Hermes Elite v1
Vertebral Column: Halls Corp Theseus Elite v1
Auditory: SocialCorp Echo Custom
Vocal: SocialCorp Orator Custom
Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump Custom
Sensory: Halls Corp Argus Elite Custom
Additional Processing: Halls Corp Custom ST
Miscellaneous: Halls Corp HSU Custom Shade
I’ve been on Aegis for too long. I barely made any progress recently. There is no chance to grind some experience points without the wasteland, and we’ve been too busy going from place to place in incognito.
If I want to be able to influence this war, the fastest way is to lean in on my advantages of stealth technology or particle physics. Otherwise, starting something new like energy shield tech will take a few extra levels.
I can’t discount the need for some material science or related technology as well, though. Even if my stealth technology reaches plus twenty, I’ll have a hard time getting materials that can apply the theory to reality. I will have to make them myself. No one around has the technology to make it.
I took a moment to do some calculations. In order to gain enough experience points to accomplish my goal, I would need to kill thousands of people for it. No wonder NPC wanted to get it over with using the easy method of targeting crowded centers.
Just a few dozen or so floors in a megabuilding could satisfy that, and most had hundreds of floors.
I didn’t get to dwell on the topic for long as Thorne started dragging me away.
“Come on, we have to get going.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s time for our fleet to finally get on the move. I get it.”
-----
Our new fleet swiftly departed from Aegis without any further incident. Everyone was on edge for another attack, but thankfully that didn’t happen.
There was an intense chess game being played in the background, and our chest master wasn’t incompetent. He wouldn’t let his opponent get that many opportunities.
As we flew deeper into the nothings of space, I drew my attention to how the crew was doing. Many of them were new and inexperienced. Combined with the upgraded systems using the technical support we received, most of them had limited proficiency in their job. It was something that couldn’t be helped because I opted to staff it with my men.
“How is the Nihility System?” I asked the captain beside me.
“Hm, the system says it’s all green. No abnormalities detected.”
“Have we tested it against the sensors of the other ships in the fleet yet?”
“No. Everyone else is still running through the checklists.”
“Tell them to prepare for some field exercises as soon as they’re done. We don’t exactly have unlimited time here.”
“Understood, sir.”
After taking another look at various terminals about how the entire ship was running, I exited the bridge to allow the crew to focus on their work.
Our flagship was designed to be my place of residence, so I naturally had my own quarters, along with a personal workshop. For now, I entered into my office and activated a boxy device that seemed out of place from the rest of the items in the room.
It was a gift from NPC and one of the few ways we could stay in touch in real time. It was going to be vital in coordinating our actions in the near future.
“If you’re contacting me, I presume you’re looking for a target to unleash your new ships against?”
“Yes. It’s not like I don’t understand the urgency of this entire situation. Just because I rejected your plan to bomb innocent people doesn’t mean I don’t want to end this war as soon as possible.”
“All the fighting has died down. Silas and his men are converging around Jupiter, and there are no conflicts yet, but it will happen soon. They’ll try to stretch our forces thin, attacking our key industrial areas around the Moon, Mars, and Earth at the same time. That is when you’ll be able to strike.”
“Keep me updated then. We’ll be nearby, running drills.”
Time flew by after that. Everyone was busy learning about the new ship and getting used to life away from any cities.
As for me, I naturally did the same. My role in the fleet was quite important. Every day I would drill with the rest of the crew.
“Locking coordinates, transmitting targeting data to your terminal now.”
Within an instant, the Lanus installed on each ship translated all the data it got from each of the six ships in our fleet. The other five vessels were the same, but my flagship was unique, so it really helped to have a computer make the necessary adjustments.
Then it would feed the data into my terminal, where I did the final confirmation before pressing the button. Immediately after, our fleet fired a volley of participle beams at some nearby asteroids.
A dozen holes were burned into the rock, and our sensors worked hard to record the data for our analysts. We had to ensure our targeting system was in working order and our synchronized firing system had no blind spots.
It may have a lot of moving parts, but it allowed me and me alone to fire the main cannons from our entire fleet. It was a system I spent most of my time on while the ships were still being built. It was also my answer on how to accrue experience points quickly.
Each ship contained hundreds of crew members, and being the one to fire upon our enemies would allow me to benefit from it. To many of the crew members, it may be a roundabout and inefficient system, but it was likely the most important system we developed for the upcoming battles.
A week passed by since we left Aegis when we finally received news of the imminent fighting. Fleets were scrambling to various targets and dozens of battlefields were about to be opened up.
As one of the people responsible for allowing this war to continue, I was eager to get this over with.
“Are you serious, Rollo? You want us to go join the deep strike force instead of the dozens of defense forces out there? That’s literally making it harder on ourselves for no reason!”
“I get that it may look like a stupid idea, but that’s exactly why I chose it. The enemy knew about our departure from Aegis. They know about our fleet. These people definitely would have taken into account our existence when planning their assault. Rather than play into their plans, I say we do the unexpected and go on the offensive.”
“You may be playing yourself here,” Thorne cried. “We’ll be isolated if we go on the offensive. No allies will be able to reinforce us, nor are there any fortifications we can rely on.”
“NPC has approved my plan, so he agrees with me. I think it’s better we believe in those who have experience operating at this level.”
After some more convincing, which entailed boasting about our new stealth system, named the Nihility System, Thorne finally relented to my decision.
We embarked on our journey to head into enemy territory. It wasn’t going to be a short journey as our destination was both far and our speeds were slow due to the need to remain hidden. The faster we moved, the higher our heat signature and displacement, so we couldn’t have the best of both worlds.
This will be quite an interesting experience. NPC’s strike force is sneaking in ahead of us for the attack. We’re only going to be showing up late to deal the finishing blow. It’ll be a nice comparison to see how our ships compare.
After another full week of travel, we finally arrived in the vicinity of Europa Station. Even then, we hung back as we waited for our allies to take action. In the meantime, we double-checked out systems and observed the enemy’s movements.
Every hour, we got more data about how our systems functioned. It allowed us to sneak closer and closer, letting set in right beside their shipping lane. We could monitor all traffic going in and out of their port, and right now, it was quite empty.
With war on the horizon, many people stopped venturing out into the expanse or had their ships requisitioned into a logistic role. It didn’t help that the bulk of their force had set off to attack.
The only presence detected around their station was the modest defense force they left behind.
The wait became more frustrating by the day as we heard more news about the new battlefronts opening up.
Thankfully, our waiting wasn’t in vain. Three days after we arrived, we finally got the signal that the strike force was about to take action. We glued our eyes to the patrol fleet, waiting for our allies to reveal themselves.
They did so in a bombastic fashion.
At noon that day, when the enemy patrol had just changed shifts, our strike force launched a devious ambush as soon as the patrol left the hangar. As they were grouping up and adjusting their heading, several missiles closed in, with barely any time to react.
NPC’s forces were equipped with stealth missiles that literally created mini suns as it made contact with the patrol fleet’s energy shield. I shouldn’t be surprised considering SocialCorp was one of the companies that had mastered nuclear fusion technology.
They normally used it as a power source for ships and power armors, but it was an effective weapon in its own right. Despite having no atmosphere to create a powerful blast wave, the mini-sun was able to easily exhaust energy shields.
However, their attacks at such close proximity to the enemy base had alerted the entire station. Their defenses came online in an instant. Before the strike force could finish off their prey, numerous railguns and energy beams were fired at their location. The firing of missiles had given away their position!
The only way they could survive such an onslaught of defenses was to run, which is where I came into play.
This was the moment to catch our enemies off guard. While their attention was focused on our allies, it was our turn to strike and finish off the patrol fleet.
“Captain, send us in. It’s time for our maiden battle.”
