That same night.

22nd September, Year 714 A.G.

Far away from Canyon Hub, at the heart of the wasteland sprawling across the Western Biome, a warship floated quietly in the sky in stealth, unseen.

Hum!

Only a subtle electric humming sound betrayed the presence of the mechanical behemoth floating in the skies, but even this sound was blocked by sound dampeners that were installed in the atmosphere.

Only high-grade penetrative scanners could pierce through the sound dampening barrier to capture the sound.

This was one of the state of the art warships that was mobilized by the Omnicore Federation for Operation Safe Corridor.

Operation Safe Corridor is the joint operation being jointly tackled by all the major factions of the world, the operation to use the Extremist Movement as a scapegoat to remind the rest of the underbelly of the world the consequences of using a nuclear weapon.

Operation Safe Corridor is a joint operation spanning all 4 cardinal locations of Neo-Tokara, targeting every nook and corner where the influence of the Extremist Movement lurked in the dark.

And of course, the main focus of Operation Safe Corridor was the West.

First, this was where the nuke was launched. And second, the Western Biome was the main territory of the Extremist Movement.

This warship was just one of multiple that were deployed by the major factions to the Western Biome, but this was the one acting as the spearhead and strategic meeting spot for the Commanders of Operation Safe Corridor.

There were 4 Commanders in charge of the Western force, each one of them a D Rank Ascended and each one of them representing the Omnicore Federation, the Synth Order, the Geneforge Clans, and the Freegrid Collective.

The first three were already gathered inside the warship, and they were waiting for the fourth.

The fourth was Colonel Alphonse.

Neural Projection!

BZZZ!

The Freegrid Colonel effortlessly stepped inside the warship.

He was looking sharp as dressed in a cyan-colored military uniform, he proudly flaunted the colors and the emblem of the Freegrid Collective. He sauntered his way deeper into the warship.

The warship’s interior felt less like a vessel and more like a controlled environment- precise, silent, and engineered to project absolute authority.

The command deck sat deep within the ship’s armored core, insulated from both physical attack and electronic intrusion.

This was the reason why Colonel Alphonse could not hop there directly.

He stood in front of the massive black door and looked directly at the camera which scanned his iris.

["Access granted!"]

Click!

Alphonse sauntered inside, and stopping just after the door, he looked around and observed the command deck.

The walls of the command deck were seamless, forged from dark composite alloys that absorbed glare and softened sound. Thin lines of embedded light traced the architecture in clean, deliberate paths, glowing in a muted white color.

At the center of the room stood a circular strategy table- sleek with a smooth obsidian surface that was alive with layered holographics.

Entire regions rotated in mid-air above the table, showing cities that were rendered in wireframe, troop movements pulsing in real time around the wasteland, orbital trajectories arching like threads of light, and most importantly the movement of the terrorists in their hidden bases.

Unknown to the terrorists, their bases were no longer hidden.

It was all laid bare in this central command deck as data updated constantly in real time, silent and relentless.

A transparent forward wall stretched beyond the meeting space, offering a controlled view of the void outside.

Outside was engulfed by a familiar bioluminescent fog, occasionally eclipsed by the slow drift of escort vehicles moving below in tight formation.

The glass wasn’t really glass, it was layered shielding of the latest Federation technology. It gave the illusion of openness in an otherwise sealed environment.

No guards stood in this room, there was no security simply because the men in this room needed no guards.

They were the guards.

There were 4 chairs surrounding the table, each tailored for high-ranking officers and 3 of them were already occupied.

Seated on one of them was a Synth, sitting next to him to his right was an A.I Construct with a deliberate mechanical cat-face design. Sitting on the Synth’s left was the only woman in the gathering, a Geneform.

Alphonse knew her. ’Major Roshfield...’

Unlike the other Commanders in this command deck, she didn’t flaunt the military colors of the Geneform Clans.

Instead, she was dressed in a simple corporate gray suit.

The moment Alphonse entered, she looked at him and nodded in silent greeting. Alphonse nodded back, then he calmly took his seat opposite the representative of the Omnicore Federation, the A.I Construct with a deliberate mechanical cat-face design.

Alphonse crossed his legs and looked around. "What did I miss?"

The A.I Construct snorted. "Such an important strike is planned for tonight, and you actually had the nerves to come late?"

Alphonse looked at him, unfazed with an expression on his face like he was saying ’Are you done?’

Well, that pissed off the A.I Construct.

His wired mechanical face turned cold. "If all officers of the Freegrid are as complacent as you, it’s no wonder a nuke was detonated in your backyard without you knowing. That’s not even complacency anymore, that’s incompetence! Useless!"

"Just how incompetent are you to...?"

"Then the Federation is incompetent too". Alphonse calmly interrupted the blabbering A.I Construct before he could complete his sentence.

The A.I Construct blinked. "What did you just say?"

Alphonse shrugged. "I mean, if nukes are as dangerous as we believe and we allowing it in our backyard is incompetence, doesn’t that make those who supply terrorists with nuclear knowledge hypocritical fools?"

"I mean, I’m just saying".

The A.I Construct’s eyes darkened. "What do you mean?"

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Are you that dumb? I mean your Federation of course!"

BZZZZ!

Violent purple ADE flared around the A.I Construct immediately. "Mind your tongue you dog! Do you have evidence to back your words? Where did you get your intel?"

Alphonse rolled his eyes again, clearly unbothered by the outburst, then he answered. "From a source more reliable than your brain".

"..."

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

Alphonse thought he heard a chuckle coming from his right which made his lips curl up slightly.

He noticed what felt like tiny wisps of smoke coming out of the A.I Construct’s head, but before he could explode in rage a feminine voice interrupted.

"That’s enough hostility in one night". Roshfield’s voice echoed calmly. "We have terrorists to kill tonight, and if we fail because you both are too busy insulting each other to focus on the mission, will you be able to answer to your leaders?"

She looked pointedly at the A.I Construct as she asked.

The A.I Construct didn’t respond, he just glared at Alphonse. After a few more seconds of keeping at this, he snorted again and sat down without any further comment. His face was cold.

Alphonse smiled.

With that brief saga behind them, they finally delved into the military planning as they shared and organized intel that their factions had on the terrorists and their hidden lairs in the West.

With it, they were able to finalize the first big attack plan of Operation Safe Corridor that was scheduled for tonight.

30 minutes later, large convoys of stealth aircrafts and ground trucks mobilized from the outpost, led by the 4 Commanders.

They infiltrated into terrorist territory.

That night, a great battle took place in the wasteland.

BOOM!

Over 5000 terrorists were killed!

Thousands more were injured and captured, including multiple E Rank terrorists, but no D Rank terrorist was found.

It was the first great culling of Operation Safe Corridor.