I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun-Chapter 759: New York (5)

"Rookie, I don’t think you’ve actually done this kind of mission before, have you?"

"...No. Everything I’ve done so far has been... well, the kind where you just smash everything, you know?"

"We specialize in this kind of thing. Strictly speaking, this is a bit of a different approach... but when it comes to causing chaos through rear infiltration, it’s pretty much the same."

At the end of September, with the sky clear and the air crisp, somewhere in the northeastern U.S.

There were no people around, and the light pollution was zero. The Milky Way glittered in the night sky, an overwhelming sight that couldn’t be described by anything other than ‘beautiful.’ It was a view beyond words.

However, below that, in some desolate outskirts of the city where only stillness and darkness reigned, the Dagger team was busy at work. They were typing furiously on their keyboards, manipulating something on the floating screen in the living room.

Next to them, I watched Logan and Laurentina manipulate some analog joysticks and a pad, as they were working on something.

"There are various ways to breach the enemy’s defenses. Shooting a sentry in the head is the simplest, but handling the bodies is a hassle, and the longer you wait, the higher the chances of getting caught."

"So that’s why you’re going with the option of sabotaging their equipment."

"With the number of enemies here, just killing all the sentries to get in would be a bit too much. That’s something you’d only do if you’re prepared for a full-scale war... and if they have tactical missiles, they’d definitely have at least a brigade stationed nearby."

As expected.

Logan, who often gets painted as a bloodthirsty character, was surprisingly... reasonable, a trait that was easy to overlook but still noteworthy. According to the reconnaissance we did before the rear team arrived, this was the best approach.

The current mission objectives were as follows: First, determine the infiltration route through precise reconnaissance, and create gaps in all the enemy defenses in between.

The optical reconnaissance equipment, which was more accurate than the human eye and capable of operating 24/7, needed to be disabled, all while checking enemy response methods and the intervals between sentry shifts.

It would be great if we could do everything remotely, but since that wasn’t possible, someone would eventually need to go in directly.

That’s why making holes in the defense line beforehand would make things much easier later on.

"As always, it feels like we’re bending the rules here. I knew unmanned reconnaissance drone technology was pretty advanced, but it’s almost cheating being able to observe from above like this, especially since there’s no UAV interception."

"Is it just UAVs? Even oil companies have had satellites in space for over ten years. If they couldn’t do this much, we’d be in trouble. Did you know?"

"...What? Oil companies... with satellites?"

"Yeah, they take pictures of oil reserves worldwide several times a day. They track the oil stored in tanks and use that to calculate stockpiles for futures trading. How advanced do you think military satellites are?"

"...Uh..."

I was really amazed, honestly.

Well, I guess it makes sense. I decided to just accept it and moved on. Meanwhile, Laurentina started telling a story about a friend in financial engineering who had informed her about this.

Even while that was happening, the thermal devices mounted on the watchtowers around us began malfunctioning. We had drones equipped with non-explosive magnetic detonators—basically EMP bombs—fly out to deploy them near the guard posts.

Of course, these small drones with EMPs were one-time-use only, but that was exactly what we’d brought them for, so it didn’t matter.

Once the drone signals disappeared, a delightful situation unfolded below the reconnaissance UAV.

The soldiers inside the guard posts initially just stared around, confused. After a few minutes, they began tapping the now-useless machines and shaking their heads in frustration.

It was a comedy in itself.

"But won’t they be suspicious if everything is broken?"

"Some might be, but instead of breaking everything, we could handle it differently. If we plant a backdoor, we can control the screen flickering or the signals, making it look like a simple malfunction."

"What about the ground station or base station?"

"Same idea. Ultimately, since we have the upper hand, the possibilities are endless. What do you think would happen if we took control of the crane loading the missiles?"

"Ugh."

Thinking about it like that made it seem kind of fun.

Meanwhile, Olivia was donning her gear. Codename: Shadow. This was infiltration gear, and Laurentina was wearing it too, since, as mentioned earlier, at least one or two people would have to physically interfere with something.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Today, Olivia’s objective was the base station.

The base station tracked missiles, received missile data, and controlled their drop locations. It also gave commands for UAVs to follow ballistic missile trajectories. If we planted a backdoor here... well, things could get interesting.

If she made it out safely, the enemy would be as good as blind.

It would take Olivia about 10 minutes to reach her destination, and during that time, we uploaded the predicted infiltration route to Olivia’s interface via the reconnaissance drone.

The owl, stretching as it made a sound, added:

"Alright, let’s go. I’ll be back soon, so don’t just sit around—help out."

"Got it."

I wasn’t sure if I could call this a ‘stroll,’ though.

In any case, Olivia’s task today could be summed up simply... she was going to insert a suspicious USB into the base station server. To infiltrate a standalone server, you had no choice but to get hands-on.

Since my own real-world experience was still lacking, it was better to leave the hard stuff to the experts. I wondered when I’d be able to do something like this.

As I continued to watch Olivia’s trajectory in the air, new sights started appearing that I hadn’t seen before.

The transparent Olivia, casually passing by the sentry post as enemy soldiers inside struggled to fix their malfunctioning equipment.

The armored vehicles patrolling the area, gathering supplies from the city.

The mobile missile platforms, casually roaming around the FedEx logistics center, without even trying to hide their presence.

"Looks like the missile loading is done now, after about 3 days. If we had just a little more time, things would likely get pretty boring."

"Well, that’s not really a problem. If we destroy the hydraulic pistons or just mess with the inside a little, they’ll have to take it back to the repair depot. Let’s figure out how to launch the missiles remotely."

"Olivia just started screen-sharing."

How much time had passed?

Olivia crossed the bridge over the river and arrived near the newly established base station near Elliott Emergency Medical Center. Taking advantage of the absence of anyone nearby, she began to climb the building’s roof.

The next part was simple. As she continued scanning with the pulse, she created a 3D map of the building's structure, and based on that, she used a drone to find the server room or something similar.

Even though it seemed like everything was going smoothly, it wasn’t surprising. The Allied forces preferred to recycle existing facilities rather than build everything from scratch. It was a much more reasonable and practical approach.

And the fact that we could exploit the drawbacks of this recycling system was the advantage we needed.

"I feel like I’ve seen this situation before. Whether it’s Artemis or here... I’ve never seen a server room not in the basement. Looks like this place is the same."

"There's a river nearby with cooling water, and hospitals usually place generators in basements. It’s the ideal spot for server storage."

"This shouldn’t be too difficult."

Click.

In a world without electricity, the roof fan still ran. The building’s air was still circulating, and Olivia tossed a few canisters inside.

I could hear a crunchy sound. It seemed like Olivia was munching on a snack after finishing the preparations.

After filling her stomach and stretching a little, Olivia opened the door to head downstairs. Below, there was nothing but silence.

This was why the sentries had to do their job properly.

Even if they did, some things just couldn’t be avoided.

"They’re sleeping soundly. I don’t think taking a keycard is going to be a problem."

"Wouldn’t it be nice if everything just ended like this?"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Meanwhile, the two new recruits watching the screen no longer looked confused. Instead, they nodded repeatedly, learning and observing the path we were taking.

First, understanding and adapting, then learning, and finally practicing.

Olivia used the keycard to open the door and, as though taking a stroll, without any interference, she plugged in a USB stick to the platform, confirmed the connection, and walked back out.

"After a good rest, we can start moving tomorrow evening."

Everyone sensed that this was the end of the operation here.

Where to next?

"Feeling tired. When can we switch with those guys in Boston?"

"Do you think that’s possible? They’ve been launching missiles up until just a day ago. The farther we get from the command center, the less likely it is we’ll go closer."

"Fuck. I’d rather be the lead in the APCs, getting supplies... at least that’d be something."

The sun rises, reaches its peak, and sets.

Dragged to a faraway land, stationed in a city I’d never even heard of, I watched the sun rise and set multiple times. More specifically, I had to keep my eyes on it.

This was the situation facing the Allied forces at the moment.

Among them, the morale of the soldiers stationed in Manchester, the capital of New Hampshire, was not particularly high.

It wasn’t exactly low, either.

"The guys left back home are all going crazy wanting to come here. Have you heard about it?"

"There’s no one here who hasn’t been reeled in. But honestly, this place is better than where I used to live. If I keep getting picked for patrols, it might be a bit better."

"Did you see that idiot Andrei? He went around saying he found some precious gems, then got everything taken by Captain Smirnov. Dumbass, haha..."

"Yeah, I’m sure that’s just how it is with those rural idiots from Magadan."

Though the Russian Federation army had somewhat civilized through Sergei Shoygu and others, they still recruited masses of troops far less capable than their Western counterparts.

For most soldiers, America was a new land, and their superiors even overlooked and tacitly encouraged looting to raise the morale of these soldiers brought in from across the world.

While it hadn’t yet descended into total chaos, it was close enough.

This was the reality of the situation, and the soldiers eagerly hoped for the opportunity to join patrols where they could legally loot.

Their main topics of conversation were always the same.

When would they strike it rich? When would the war end? Or when could they go home... Of course, they never discussed the possibility of defeat.

But it was only natural for people to have doubts, so as long as their superiors didn’t stir up defeatist sentiments, they allowed some leniency.

"...Huh?"

"What’s up?"

"I think the missile storage camera just blinked."

"Now that you mention it, we did burn through quite a few fragmentation rounds in this offensive. Do we have any extras coming in?"

"I don’t know. They’ll probably let us know later. It’s not like we’re reloading often, so why do they insist on inspecting the crane every day... Wait, it’s almost time for another inspection. We should probably leave the storage door open."

"Now that you mention it, leaving it open might make it easier for the missile transport vehicles to move out during emergencies."

"Yeah, probably. Later, when someone asks, we can just say we opened it for the maintenance guys."

Click.

At the same time, the thick door visible on the side of the screen slowly creaked open. Meanwhile, the two soldiers in charge of CCTV and door operations carried on their conversation without a care.

They weren’t completely negligent. They still needed to keep track of which vehicles entered and exited. If they didn’t, they’d be severely reprimanded.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

But in reality, there wasn’t much they had to monitor. For now, all they needed to know was that a missile transport vehicle had undergone inspection 8 hours ago and was about to leave.

They continued to wait for the next shift, trying not to draw attention.

How long had it been?

The missile transport vehicle, which seemed to have finished its inspection, rolled out of the garage.

"...What’s this? The vehicle’s moving?"

"Leave it. It’s probably just a test run since the maintenance is done. There was no issue from the ground station, right?"

"Let’s see... yeah, that’s true. In that case, we don’t need to report it."

The soldiers didn’t seem to pay much attention, and once again, they turned off the CCTV monitoring.

The vehicle rolled out of the garage with ease, and those nearby didn’t seem to care either. The vehicle circled the area a few times before slowly heading toward the road.

The hatch of the missile transport vehicle opened and closed again, conducting simulated launches and internal integrity checks.

It didn’t seem any different from usual.

Until all the nearby lights suddenly went out.

— Pop!

"What the hell? A blackout? At this timing?"

"God damn it. This is bad for the equipment. How do we turn it back on? Uh, first... press the reboot button, check the power cables, then... wait..."

"...Hey, wait. Listen. Didn’t you hear something outside?"

"What sound?"

"It sounds like gunshots—"

Tududududu!

Suddenly, gunfire rang out from the pitch-black darkness. The sound came from the outside, almost as if it were fired from beyond the base.

We didn’t know what was happening, but something had to be done. And for the soldiers in charge of the CCTV, ‘doing something’ meant waiting for the power to come back online.

But it didn’t take long.

Someone burst into the room, shouting.

"Shit! Get out with your guns! The missile platform vehicle is moving on its own!"

"What? Is that for real?!"

"You idiots, what the hell were you doing while on duty... I’ll find out exactly what you two were up to once this situation is resolved! Get out now!"

Click!

In the dark, someone fumbled for a flashlight, turning it on and illuminating the room. The two soldiers on duty immediately started running down the hallway.

What was going on? It didn’t matter, because soon enough, it wouldn’t be important anymore.

The vehicle began moving kilometers away from the base, and dozens of soldiers rushed to board their vehicles to chase after it.

How much time had passed?

The Russian soldiers in a nearby alley saw the missile in the sky, ready for launch.

"Shit, shit, it’s an emergency! Code Black, Code Black! The missile is fully ready to launch! The missile is—AAAH!"

"Stop it! Make it stop! Throw whatever you can—bullets, grenades, just—AHH!"

Boom!

With an enormous roar, every single attempt by the Russian soldiers to stop the missile failed, and the first missile shot into the sky with incredible force.

Everyone looked completely drained, as if all hope had left them. It would take a long time for them to realize that the ground station responsible for missile trajectory was utterly destroyed.

That was the first despair. The second missile wasn’t far behind.

And it didn’t take long to realize that the bunker-busting bomb was targeting the FedEx building about 1 km away, the missile storage facility, missile vehicle, and several buildings filled with soldiers.

It didn’t take long to realize that either.

—!

Seconds later, a blinding flash erupted from the heart of the explosion.

Everything turned to ash in that moment.