BXBX NOVEL Chapter 58: | 058 | Forward Operating Base
The first stage was going well, to say the least. The reconnaissance efforts were giving results and intelligences were getting poured into the data link.
After the reconnaissance task, Operation Hammer of Dawn would probably officially start.
"Charlotte, I thought you would be managing the operation with Abraham." Beside the stone-faced Vice Admiral was the legendary dragoness of the United Navy, Laplace.
She still had the same smug expression on her face, which would have easily pissed others off, but the Vice Admiral didn\'t seem to show that much of a reaction.
As expected of the so-called stone-faced Vice Admiral.
Hearing the teasing tone of the dragoness, Charlotte turned her gaze towards Laplace with a blank expression. She would have desired to leave this problem dragon with the Fleet Admiral.
However, the problem dragon was vital to this operation. She would be assisting the ground forces and making sure that none of the charging adversaries would pass through the defensive lines.
Regardless of Charlotte\'s thoughts about the dragoness, she needed to throw them away for the sake of the operation\'s success and the lives of her soldiers.
After all, ego had no position in the military.
"Are you aware of your mission in this operation?" Charlotte calmly inquired, making the dragoness pout and turn her head to the side while responding.
"Yeah, yeah… Make sure that none of the magibeasts passed through the defensive line." This was her second operation with the United Navy, and she wasn\'t hired yet.
According to her friend, Abraham. She was still lacking in concerns of military discipline, which she couldn\'t deny. As a dragon, it was hard to be disciplined.
She could only pretend and act like one.
"Good, we\'ll be needing all the help we can get Laplace." Charlotte breathed in relief as the edges of Laplace\'s lips rose.
Despite being stone-faced most of the time, that didn\'t mean that the Vice Admiral had no emotions. She was merely skilled at maintaining her calm.
Charlotte wasn\'t as uncaring as she would like to portray. She wouldn\'t want her soldiers to needlessly die in an operation she conjured.
"I\'ll take care of those pests. There\'s no need to worry about them." Laplace chuckled while lessening the tense atmosphere with pure smugness.
"No, it\'s not like that. I\'m troubled by the intelligence we have received from the north. It looks like the magibeasts there are acting strange. They seemed to be eating one another."
Charlotte explained some of the reports she had received from the north. Hearing the Vice Admiral\'s words, Laplace raised an eyebrow and thought about it.
Strangeness was synonymous with magibeasts, but this was the first ever heard of them attacking and eating one another.
"Are you implying that they are trying to control the population?" Laplace understood the implication of Charlotte\'s words.
"I don\'t care about them controlling their population. It\'s the fact that they are trying." Charlotte said with a scrutinizing gaze. Investigative thoughts flooded her mind desiring to find an answer.
"That does sound worrying. This is also the first I\'ve ever heard of magibeasts eating one another. It seems that the north is dealing with a unique circumstance."
Laplace remarked with interest in her eyes. Of the many magibeast species she had extinguished, the ones in the north intrigued her the most.
It was as if something was-
"Unique circumstances are far from something we desire. We need to make sure no unnecessary variable appears, so the northern operation will be postponed until we gain further intelligence."
Charlotte decided to halt the northern operation. The eastern one will go first instead and the north will follow. The reason was somewhat simple.
She turned her gaze towards the dragoness as thoughts passed through her head. Even though Laplace was a problem dragon, with her around, no matter how many variables existed, victory would always be attainable.
With these thoughts in mind, Charlotte made a call to postpone the schedule of the northern operation.
Her orders passed without any resistance as the November Fleet was busy mapping out the intricate cave systems. Even if they wanted to follow the schedule, they simply couldn\'t do it without gathering more information.
"Where are we heading to begin with?" Laplace questioned, curious about the destination of their convoy.
The iron carriages of the United Navy seemed fast compared to normal wooden ones, but it was still slower than her running speed. It was in the direction of Charlotte that she was forced to be stuck in a Humvee.
Otherwise, she would have arrived earlier at their destination by now.
"We are heading to the Forward Operating Base, Laplace. The place where most of our ground forces will gather." Charlotte calmly responded while staring through the window and into the grassland.
The evergreen slick of grass seemed to flicker with the radiant light of the sun. It was a beautiful day outside, though a tense day for the personnel in the United Navy.
This was… After all, their first ground war.
"It will handle the logistics for the later battle. After all, ammunition, soldiers, ordnance, food, medicines, and armored vehicles don\'t appear out of nowhere."
Charlotte continued while maintaining her pleasant observation of the outside.
The clapping of propeller blades soon echoed as a group of Black Hawks passed through the military convoy heading to the Forward Operating Base.
Laplace looked upward with her golden irises staring at the transport helicopters with astonishment. It always surprised her that someone could fly without using wyverns or anything of that sort.
She heard that she managed to ride a helicopter when she got rescued from the sea. It was unfortunate that she was unconscious at that moment.
Otherwise, she would have enjoyed flying without transforming herself into a dragon.
Meanwhile, Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows as she remembered her decision to take a convoy on the ground instead of getting transported through the air.
It was because of the needed transportation of essential personnel and electronics immediately into the constructed Forward Operating Base.
Since she didn\'t need to be there immediately, she decided to ride a ground convoy instead. While it was a bit regrettable, she would have done the same thing if she was given a chance to do so ever again.
"Vice Admiral, we have arrived." The driver of the Humvee reported, prompting the two gorgeous ladies to look through their windows.
Various construction sites were getting created one after another as tricks were fully loaded with soil scattered throughout the air. Fences were being erected and structures were getting established.
It shouldn\'t take too long before the Forward Operating Base becomes fully operational.
"I never said this before. But damn, all of you are so fast at building things. To think you\'ll be able to build a town in a span of two days" Laplace remarked in astonishment.
Charlotte quietly smirked while playing around with a lustrous gem held by her pale fingers.