Parallel: United Front

Chapter 30: Tearing the Veil

Low Guruk

1424 Hours, July 31st, 3039.

"Did I mention how much I hate this plan of yours?"

"Several times, Queen. Several times."

Dayle chuckled as he watched Queen fiddle with her gauntlet. The proud scout's brows furrowed in an extremely unwilling frown. Queen did not want to go along with Dayle's plan. Unfortunately, due to her intelligence, she knew for a fact that Dayle's proposed plan was indeed the best.

"Damn it. That's 300,000 credits, you know," Queen complained through gritted teeth. She cursed and then brought up two holograms. The first hologram depicted a two-dimensional bird's eye view of the target compound. The second, however, was a three-dimensional model of the area around the compound. Currently, there was a massive void at the center of the model where the apartment complexes should've been.

"Hey, don't worry." Dayle glanced at the sky and then reassured with a smile. "If we're lucky, we might still find it." Dayle then looked at Raines. "How is it?"

"The sky's clear." Raines dropped her binoculars and then looked at Queen. "You can deploy anytime."

"Ah. Wait." Arthur raised his hand. "Holograms are created from light, right?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"In that case, assuming light can't pass through walls..."

"Then whatever's creating these holograms has to be in a place where it can send out light to all these corners without obstructions." Queen's eyes widened and regarded Arthur with interest. Arthur's observation was something simple which any grade-schooler should know. However, it was often simple observations like these that determined the success or failure of a mission.

Arthur, oblivious to Queen's thoughts, proposed, "We should keep a special eye out for either a device that can project to every location, which would most likely be high in the sky―"

"Or a set of devices that handle individual locations," Dayle finished.

Raines, with doubt in her eyes, asked, "What if the devices are also camouflaged?" She turned to look at Queen. "I read somewhere that Nexus bots can turn on reflective panels to be invisible, right?"

Queen nodded. "Yeah. That's something they can do. But do you think they'll go that far?" She looked at the 'apartments.' "They've already got security on lock."

"Maybe, but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful." Raines looked at the compound. "If we can take down the illusion, the main company will have a much easier time."

Queen sighed in regret. "I guess I have no choice." She reached into her right eye and then pulled out the scouter. "I'll have to use both." She summoned a drone, and then attached the scouter to one of its 'legs.'

Dayle wore a tight smile as he watched the drone take flight. FireRain's debt to Queen seemed to increase with every passing second. This mission, while still doable, would have been thousand times more difficult and dangerous without her intel. And now, without complaint, Queen sacrificed her expensive tech to further the mission. Dayle could see how she became the best spy in Kudan. Only someone with the resolve to use everything they possessed for the task could become a great spy.

A few minutes later, Queen tapped on her gauntlet. "The drones are in position. I've configured one scouter to capture video and audio, and the other will monitor wind movement."

Arthur raised a brow in confusion. "Wind?"

Queen nodded. "Residents in this world aren't stupid. When they realized the Nexus could turn invisible, they invented equipment that could monitor wind movement, and track any weird changes."