November 17, 3458.
The joint forces of Hourai Island and Onogoro Island launched their operation to reclaim the mobile base hidden beneath the Antarctic ice.
The battleship Hotaka and the cruisers Azusa, Katsura, and Yodo stood by nearby to provide support.
Below the waves, the submarine Shachi and the Marine Force’s Mariner units—Mermaids 1 through 100—were deployed. Since countermeasures had been implemented to handle the low concentrations of free ether, there were no operational issues even in the heart of the Antarctic.
Meanwhile, the Adriana floated in the stratosphere, where free ether remained abundant. Back at Hourai Island, ten units of the Air Force's VTOL, the Falcon, waited on standby, ready to be deployed via transporter at a moment’s notice.
On Onogoro Island...
"Helente, are you ready?" Jin asked via his Doppel.
"I am ready whenever you are."
"My Lord, the Shinobi Squad is also fully prepared."
The first wave to infiltrate the mobile base consisted of ten units: Shinobi 1 through Shinobi 10. They would teleport from Hourai Island to an iceberg near the base. Once they confirmed the interior was safe, they would set up a teleportation magic circle to bring in the second wave.
The second wave comprised Helente, Jin’s Doppel, and the Land squad. They waited for their turn on Onogoro Island. Reiko stood by on Hourai Island as a mobile reserve. Jin had performed extensive maintenance on her, boosting her power even further.
The plan was to cut off the supply of free ether from Onogoro Island as soon as the first wave was dispatched. Jin himself remained in the Hourai Island command room.
Elsa turned to him with a question. "Jin-nii, is it not possible to teleport directly to the Brain we saw through the Peeper and just... remove those Beherrscher devices?"
Jin gave a grim nod. "I considered that. If we could, it would be the best way. But we can't."
"Why not?" Elsa tilted her head.
"As soon as we liberated the Supervising Brain on Onogoro Island, a barrier was raised around the mobile base."
"They realized what happened?"
"Most likely. I’m not sure if they were in direct contact or if there’s a single entity managing all the Beherrscher devices."
"I see..."
Laojun interrupted with a report. "My Lord, I have managed to partially analyze the memory data from Helente’ that we copied recently."
"Good work."
Because the memories from her time under Beherrscher control were encoded in an unknown language, the analysis had been difficult.
"The majority of the data covers Helente’s memories while she was under their influence, but some parts contain their directives."
"And?"
"...Their ultimate goal appears to be the conquest of this planet. Their motive is resource extraction."
"I see... wait."
A thought struck Jin. If the language was different, then the mastermind might not be from the Origin Clan. In fact, that was looking highly probable.
"I believe so as well," Laojun agreed.
"Perhaps we'll find out more once we reclaim the mobile base."
"The possibility is high."
The time for the operation finally drew near. It was 6:00 AM on Onogoro Island—6:00 PM Hourai Island Time.
"Commencing teleportation."
The ten Shinobi units teleported onto the ice covering the mobile base.
"I can't tell if this is an iceberg or just sea ice," Jin muttered, watching the feed from the Peeper.
"They likely used the ice to camouflage the mobile base," Laojun suggested.
On the surface of the ice, the ten units—Shinobi 1 through 10—looked like tiny specks.
<Infiltration beginning now.>
"Understood. Be extremely careful."
Jin watched the Peeper’s video feed with intense focus. The squad started by drilling through the ice using Mini-Moles. The ice offered little resistance to the Mini-Moles, which were designed to bore through solid rock. They breached the frozen layer in less than thirty minutes.
"Now, how to get through the mobile base’s armor."
Since there was no physical barrier in the sections buried under the ice, they had options.
"We need a method that won't alert them."
"My Lord, Craft Magic would be most effective," Laojun advised.
"I agree."
Craft Magic had a narrow range of effect, making it difficult for sensors to pick up. Following orders, Shinobi 1 used Forming. Because the units were so small, the process took some time. After about a minute, they had opened a hole just large enough to squeeze through.
"Good. Now use Fix."
In this context, Fix was a technique used to maintain the opening while simultaneously creating a bypass in the enemy's barrier. If a barrier was like the skin of a ball, Fix was like inserting a tiny straw into it. The straw shared the same properties as the barrier, allowing it to fuse seamlessly and act as an "air hole."
This bypass allowed for communication via manacam and travel through Warp Gates even if a magic barrier was deployed. However, it didn't help the Peeper. The Peeper's waves were highly linear; it couldn't see into areas that didn't have a direct line of sight back to the main unit on Hourai Island.
"Alright, contact Onogoro Island. Tell them to cut the free ether supply."
"Yes, My Lord."
With that, the battle for the mobile base began in earnest. Led by Shinobi 1, the ten units dropped into the base's interior. They found themselves in a dim corridor lit only by emergency lights.
The darkness didn't give them much of an advantage, however. While the Shinobi units were using Invisible, they would be spotted instantly if the enemy had a magi-detector. They were relying primarily on their speed, their small size, and their emergency transporters.
Staying together increased the risk of being wiped out in a single blow, but splitting up would make them easier to find individually. The squad decided to stay together, moving in formation while maintaining a one-meter gap between each unit.
"The outer hull is made of nickel chrome molybdenum steel."
Jin had identified the material during the analysis while using Forming.
"They're certainly being extravagant with their resources," he muttered to himself.
The footage Jin was watching on his magi-screen was synced to Shinobi 1's vision. Since Shinobi 1's optical sensors were small, the raw feed would have been too dark when enlarged, but it was being processed with "Optical" magic to provide a bright, clear image.
"Hmm. This sector looks almost finished. But it's completely deserted."
"The Shinobi Squad is making good progress so far, My Lord."
"Yeah. They're likely in chaos now that we've cut off the free ether."
That was their primary advantage. The Shinobi Squad pushed deeper into the facility.