Chapter 1074: Pentagon’s Concern
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rainystars
It was not just the British and Finns watching the battle on the scene. The UA across the Atlantic was also paying close attention. When Celestial Trade played its trump card, s.p.a.ce-based weapons, everyone’s expression became sullen.
Then, from the Power Armor Brigade to the drone airdrop tactics, everything happened next made the atmosphere in the Military Headquarters conference room drop to freezing point.
Although the pictures taken by the British were not clear, they still felt the horror brought on by the flood of mutants, and the immense power of the power armors that defended the attacks of the mutants.
If the K1 kinetic skeleton was like a bicycle, then the power armor was undoubtedly a motorcycle. It not only provided the soldiers with highly maneuverable armor, but it also served as a firepower point, increasing the individual combat effectiveness of soldiers to the max.
Although from a human’s standpoint, the last thing the UA Secretary of Defense wanted to see was Celestial Trade ultimately winning the battle against mutants. The better ending would be UK and Xin both losing, and the UA Marine Corps saving the mankind.
The Minister of Defense kept praying that the mutants could drown these two hundred “human armored vehicles”, but the reality was different. When the drones rushed into the nest, the fate of the mutants was determined.
When the last Blade Warrior was penetrated by the plasma blade and its head slashed off, the conference room went silent.
“These hypocrites, they are lying! They said there are only two Orbital Airborne Brigades, how come there is one more now?” A senior UA Defense Department official broke the silence and cursed.
Minister Ashton Carter glanced at the officer and shook his head.
Did you really believe what they said? The UA Defense Advanced Research Projects Bureau didn’t introduce many pieces of equipment. If you didn’t know, you can only blame your lack of intelligence work.
However, they didn’t have a solution. The local anti-intelligence capability of Ghost Agents was too strong. From a long time ago, the CIB wanted to steal the technology of the s.p.a.ce elevator by penetrating Celestial Trade. However, all the agents sent to Xin failed, and some agents who went over the line simply evaporated.
Just then, Hill suddenly spoke out.
“I’m more worried about their s.p.a.ce-based weapons than the Orbital Airborne Brigade and power armor. If they can, at any time, send tungsten rods weighing dozens of tons above our heads, it will pose a serious threat to our national security.”
Everyone nodded.
Although the 1966 Outer s.p.a.ce Treaty referred to the prohibition of the development of weapons and the militarization of s.p.a.ce in outer s.p.a.ce, in reality, vigorously developing military aeros.p.a.ce technology and s.p.a.ce power, seizing absolute air superiority, and occupying the strategic commanding heights of safeguarding national security interests have long been the common strategic goal of major powers.
If the treaty was strictly abided, all missiles should not exist. But was this possible?
The CIB director coughed and spoke.
“With regard to their s.p.a.ce-based weapons, we obtained some tungsten rods from Ukraine. According to our scientists, the techonological content is not high. It’s just an alloy tungsten rod. A gyroscope-like guidance component is installed in the middle.”
“It’s easy to imitate their weapons,” he then paused, with a hint of helplessness. “The key is how to get these tungsten rods into the orbit.”
If these tungsten rods couldn’t be sent to the orbit at an appropriate cost, the development of s.p.a.ce-based weapons would be completely meaningless.
“That’s right.” The Capitol military adviser smiled bitterly. “If we use rockets to put these things on the synchronous...o...b..t and throw them down, it’s pointless. The danger of Celestial Trade is that there is no binding international convention that limits the size of private armed forces. If they continue to expand, we have no way to intervene.”
Hill tapped on the arm of the sofa and said, “If we push for an international convention now?”
“Then we will be the biggest victims.” Secretary of Defense Carter said. “You know, a large percentage of our annual defense budget is spent on military contractors. It’s fair to say that they are already part of the UA Army.”
Including Hill, the Defense Department and the Capitol senior officials in the conference room were all silent.
If the Capitol swung the blade at the private military contractors, Wall Street would be the first one to disagree. Cutting the military industry was equivalent to robbing the wallet of the Wall Street consortia. The infamous private military contractors like Blackwater International were all linked to Wall Street.
It was the 2020 election next year. On the one hand, it was important to please the people, and on the other hand, it was important to not offend the consortium. Now that Goldman Sachs had fallen, the WASP consortiums such as Morgan Stanley and First B City dominated the entire North American financial industry. Itwas not the time to start a conflict with Wall Street.
What can we do about it?
Hill was troubled.
…
When the war ended, the Power Armor Brigade that destroyed the nest controlled the military base.
Seeing the victor was decided, the brigade commander of the British Mechanized Brigade came to the military base and proposed to enter the military base. His reasons were well prepared, such as “collect the remains of fallen soldiers” and “remove the sc.r.a.pped armored vehicles”, but they were still rejected by Celestial Trade.
The reason for the refusal was simple.
There was no corpse at all. The mutants digested the flesh immediately and sent it back to the nest as nutrient for the spores. Celestial Trade promised that if it obtains any tags with soldiers’ name, it would be returned to the British army.
This reason obviously did not satisfy the British.
Collect the remains was only second in priority. Anyone knew that even the bones were probably gone. They wished to see Celestial Trade’s power armors at a close distance and collect as much information as possible about this new type of weapon.
Of course, in addition to that, what they were most worried about was that X2 bacteria would be controlled by Celestial Trade
It must be said that the ferocious mutants left too memorable of an impression. If someone used the bacteria for military purposes, the consequences would be simply unimaginable.
The best way to overcome fear was to obtain a copy, just like nuclear weapons.
Moston made up his mind. He won’t withdraw his request to enter the military base. Since Celestial Trade didn’t have the confidence to start a conflict with the British, then he would bring a research team from London and investigate the formation mechanism of the nest. Even if it was not used for military purposes, it should be backed up in case of an emergency.
However, Celestial Trade did not plan to give them face. The entire military base was designated as a private territory.
The Finnish officials came for mediation but to no avail. When their president asked Celestial Trade to send troops, they sold the a.s.sets owned by Arrow to Celestial Trade. Jurisprudentially, the treaty between Arrow and the Finnish government naturally transitioned to Jiang Chen.
The military base was now a private a.s.set of Celestial Trade and protected by Finnish law.
The brigade commander of the Power Armor Brigade did not plan to talk to Moston. The two soldiers at the gate stopped him.
Even if Moston was reluctant to accept this, he could only return to the military camp next to Paltak. He reported the news to his superiors, the Ministry of Defense, for further discussion before a decision could be made.