Chapter 299 ·Turning Point (62)

Turning 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󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄂Point (62)

"Hyun-woo, right now I'm in love for the second—no, third—actually, never mind, just in love again. I think it's about the fourth or fifth time."

"... Could you not say things like that while rubbing your face against the leg of a walking tank?"

I wisely kept my reply, 'You scare me when you do that,' to myself. Maybe because I left my response hanging, Nadia seemed to think I was jealous, and she smoothly slipped in that obviously, I was her first love, so there was nothing to worry about.

Though I was suddenly hearing a confession I usually only got right before sleep, I didn't feel any butterflies. Not even a bit. Surprisingly, all I could manage was a small sigh.

It made sense, I thought. Her mind was entirely occupied with Milicorp's walking tank. She probably didn't even realize what she was saying. I'm sure she meant it, but the timing was just all wrong.

'Maybe I came back too fast.'

I had considered staying with Celestia a little longer after dropping her off in her room, but I held back and just returned. Now that I think about it, it wasn't me who needed time—it was Nadia. That just showed how much she liked that hunk of metal.

'I'm stronger than that thing!'

I thought to myself, but I pushed the feeling aside. I'd known for a long time that Nadia had a thing for machines.

So, her goofy grin, the way she nuzzled her face like she was marking her territory—it wasn't anything strange for her. Still, my voice came out loaded with annoyance.

"... Are you going to keep at it? Should I leave you alone for a bit?"

「( ᯣ - ᯣ )」

Carry agreed with me. Seemed like he felt left out after going along with things for so long. He looked at Nadia with an expression that said, 'Let's see how far she'll go.'

"Ah, no! That's enough now!"

I wondered just what, exactly, was "enough."

My curiosity battled with my reluctance to know, and the latter won. I decided not to press it.

"So what do you think? Do you think it'll be useful?"

"Yeah! Super useful!"

"Good. Are you going to use it as is?"

I gazed at Milicorp's walking tank. This bipedal tank had an overall dark gray frame—maybe for camouflage. It belonged to the same category as the multi-legged tank sitting forlorn in the corner of the storage bay.

'The difference from a multi-legged tank is...'

The Milicorp walking tank was utterly loaded with weapons, and if you got down to details, the unit types were different. Even its basic dimensions were unlike the multi-legged tank.

"So, how are you planning to use it?"

"Can I really decide that on my own?"

Nadia tilted her head, wondering if maybe she should consult Kyle or some of the others. I shrugged.

"If there's something you want to try, just do it without asking for approval. That's what I said."

If there had been only one Milicorp walking tank, I might've thought twice before touching it, but Celestia had retrieved five in total. And tanks weren't the only equipment we had.

'It's obviously great to have it, but it doesn't mean our problems are fixed, or that things have suddenly become a lot easier, either.'

The reason we hadn't used the multi-legged tank much and always stuck with the power loader until now was simple: the multi-legged tank couldn't keep up with us.

But scrapping it after a single use felt wasteful, and even if we did use it, it wasn't like it would have a huge impact, so we'd just left it in the storage bay.

We couldn't just stick a booster on it to bridge the gap, either. The weapons used up too much power, and the tank couldn't handle the weight of a booster. If we removed the armor to lighten it, we might as well not use a booster at all.

Saying something 'can do it all' sounds nice, but in reality, Jack-of-all-trades units usually end up being good for nothing. It's better to specialize, at least to deliver some real impact.

'Good thing it's a drone.'

Roxy and Nadia's piloting skills were off the charts, but typically, unmanned control brought out more performance from a unit than manned. In emergencies, we could even use it as bait. Since it was unmanned, no one on our side would get killed.

This wasn't a situation where we could afford to be stingy just because it was valuable. This was probably the last operation, so using everything we had made sense.

"So just take whatever parts you need off of it. The drone units operate off their internal combat programs or Orca will remote-control them, so we'll put them to good use. But what really matters is boosting the power loader for direct combat power."

"Got it! Then I'll put together an estimate!"

"For now, just the estimate. Don't touch anything else."

We were already running low on energy. We'd set up an additional production line, so anything outside the main plan should wait until the generator was up and running again.

"... Maybe just some analysis...?"

"I'd love to let you go ahead, but you know how it is. If we had the excess energy for that, I'd have run the line again. We're swapping the engine tomorrow, so the real work will start after that."

"Yeah, I know.... Haa, you're right here in front of me, so close, yet I can't properly study you...."

Nadia, her eyes full of longing, stroked the walking tank. Carry's expression grew more and more incredulous in response.

"Alright. Carry, give me a lift? I'll take the estimate and then go to bed. Oh, and clean the dirty modules too!"

「(￣▽￣*)ゞ」

Carry shifted to make it easier for her to climb up. Nadia bounded up onto Carry and started scanning the walking tank. Countless lasers swept over it, the scan creating a surface that looked almost like cloth. The holographic window filled with cross-sections of the walking tank's internal structure.

Watching from the side, I suddenly voiced a question that popped into my head.

"Nadia, do you know what this walking tank is called? Even if the logo's been wiped, there must be a standard model name."

"Right. From what I know, it's Minotaur. It's part of Milicorp's long-selling line. Bipedal tank types have been around for ages, but thanks to constant upgrades and new weapon modules, this model is still alive and selling well. Even most satellite defense forces have plenty of them, so that should tell you enough."

Since satellites had far smaller defense forces compared to planets, the fact that even those smaller units had Minotaurs spoke volumes about the model's reliability.

Here on Titan, because Blue Crystal was mined here, they favored manned units over drones—you just didn't see many Minotaurs.

"You know a lot."

"Well, I've always been interested in this stuff. At least what's publicly available, anyway."

Nadia finished with the frame and moved on to scan the weapons modules mounted to the torso. She was probably checking compatibility. Even though Celestia had said it would work, since they planned to move modules onto a different frame, she was checking the specifications.

"Minotaur, huh... Why would something so dangerous still be lying around? It feels like obvious contraband, so I figure the pureblood supremacists must have brought it in."

Ever since I heard it was found in a robot production facility, I'd wondered. If something like that existed, seizing the base would've been a cinch. So then, why did no one find it, and how did it end up in our hands?

"Maybe they didn't see the need to use it. The takeover of Titan went so smoothly for them. SSTC's prized Titan satellite defense force didn't even get to use a tenth of its power before it was swept aside. Whether that thing was here or not, it probably wouldn't have made much difference."

Because of internal betrayal, each military base fell with barely any resistance. Some of those bases suffered near total destruction. The robot production facility was in the latter category.

It was only after the initial fall that a new patrol was assigned to the facility. The pureblood supremacists occupying it were wiped out by security robots, so maybe that's why nobody remembered the Minotaur tank existed.

'But even so...'

Even if they smuggled it in, it was only SSTC's network that was in the dark, not the pureblood supremacists'. And when the new patrols came, they showed no interest in retrieving the Minotaur. In fact, it seemed like they didn't even care.

"Would you notice something like that after you've already captured the base? Sure, we're obsessed with it, but the pureblood supremacists prefer mutants over machines anyway. Have you ever seen one of them actually piloting a unit like a power loader?"

"Hmm..."

Now that I thought about it, I never had. I'd seen them riding in ships or shuttles, but never actually piloting anything themselves.

"... No, I haven't. All the manned ones were infected by mimics, not fit for any human to use."

"Maybe the mimics are the pureblood supremacists. Instead of waiting for humans who might betray them, they might have just jammed a mimic in the pilot seat—a creature with zero chance of betrayal. That's my hunch."

"So then leaving the Minotaur was..."

"Just like I said, maybe a case of 'Why bother?' Anyway, if you just leave it, the creep at the refinery or the robot factory will find the container, and, given time, it'll worm its way in and infect anything inside."

That way, they'd end up with more usable troops without even lifting a finger. Nadia said she was just guessing, but I found it a convincing theory.

'Even the manned units at military base Keter were all infected. None of them were human-piloted.'

Maybe we'd just attacked in the gap after the pureblood supremacists withdrew, but considering we recovered an intact power loader there, it just increased the likelihood that they didn't use manned units at all.

"It was like that at all the forward bases too. Any unit a human could ride was infected by mimics. Or turned into part of a Dreadnought."

"Typical pureblood supremacists. Can't trust a person, so they shove a mutant in the pilot seat—hey, stop that."

I shook my head at the thought of their monstrous behavior, but then narrowed my eyes. Everything seemed innocuous, but nothing got past me.

"Nadia, weren't we just supposed to get estimates?"

"... I'm just doing estimates."

Her reply was quiet, partly because her voice was muffled by the fact that she'd stuck her head into what looked like an exhaust vent on the Minotaur's upper body.

She'd found a blind spot, so I almost missed it—at first, I just thought her tail was sticking out, but she'd actually crawled all the way in, leaving only her tail behind.

"Put the spanner down and talk. The internal scan is done—no need for you to stick your head into the pod connector."

"... Tch."

Having been caught, Nadia came out as if nothing had happened. The Minotaur wasn't new, so it wasn't a perfect crime—her face was smeared with soot.

When I pulled out a towel, Nadia hurriedly tried to rub her face clean. But that kind of black wasn't going to come off so easily; if it would, Carry wouldn't have looked so horrified.

"... Carry, let's get down. *Cough! Cough...!*"

Nadia coughed and patted Carry, her tail bristling with every hack.

「꜀( ꜆×ࡇ×)꜆⚐」

Carry made a coughing face of his own and raised a white flag. Must've been some really potent soot.

"Come here. You'll need a proper wash, but let's at least get off the worst of it."

I brought Nadia, still sitting on Carry, over and started scrubbing her face with the towel. Her cheeks squished and bounced as I wiped. She frowned, but didn't pull away.

After I finished kneading her face into a soft bun, I let her go. Rubbing her now-puffy cheeks, she looked up at me, puzzled when I continued.

"Nadia, go ahead first. I've got somewhere to be for a moment."

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"Carrot's lab. He asked to see me—said there was something to discuss."

"Carrot? Hmm... Did he not want me to come?"

Nadia had a look like something was bothering her.

"Yeah, uh, he didn't say to bring you. But if you've got something to say, I can pass it on. Or you could come anyway."

"No, that's okay. Go ahead. But don't be too late."

After a brief hesitation, Nadia shook her head. Then she pretended to handle Carry's controls and cried out.

"Let's go, Carry! Target: the shower room!"

「(/・0・)」

As if he'd been waiting, Carry fired his thrusters. He waved his auxiliary arms at me several times, making it obvious he was excited to finally get going, then zoomed down the corridor.

"Eeek—!"

Nadia was so startled by the speed, she flattened herself against Carry. At that point, she wasn't even riding—just hanging on for dear life.

As I watched the two rapidly disappear, I couldn't help but chuckle a little, then made my way to Carrot's lab. It wasn't far away, so I arrived before long.

As I opened the door, the lab's bright lights stung my eyes. I squinted for a moment until Carrot greeted me.

"Welcome."

"You finished looking around? I guess I timed it right."

Carrot wasn't the only one waiting in the lab—Licorice was there, too.

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