RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

"Raptor One through Six are returning to the Airfield ahead of schedule. All aircraft remain operational."

Hans glanced toward the timer still beside his vision.

Their route had more than an hour remaining.

"Any damage?"

"None reported."

"Ordnance?"

"All six are returning with unused precision missiles."

That brought Johannes’s attention away from the transcripts.

"Why are they returning?"

"The priority targets cleared the open roads before the last two passes. Raptor One reports the larger infected moving inside reinforced structures before the flight entered attack range."

Another voice joined the channel.

"Golden Eagle, Raptor One."

Hans recognized the pilot immediately.

"Report."

"The northern uglies finally learned what aircraft sound like. Three lanes, same result every time."

"Any movement away from the Hive?"

"Nothing offensive. They are still clustered around it. Most moved under anything thick enough to waste a missile."

"Did they respond before your aircraft became visible?"

A short pause followed.

"Looks that way. The exposed groups started moving before our final turn."

Hans looked toward the blank section of the wall, picturing Ironford beyond it.

"Return to the Airfield. Upload every recording to Flight Operations after landing."

"Raptor One copies. We will bring the missiles home too."

The channel closed.

Tyrus looked toward Hans.

"Perhaps your Hive has started thinking."

"It has always been thinking," Hans replied.

The six Raptors continued toward the Airfield with unused missiles still inside their internal bays. The Ironford Hive had stopped leaving priority targets in the open.

Johannes watched Hans for a moment.

"So much for attacking it from the sky."

"The aircraft are still forcing them under cover," Hans replied. "That tells us something."

Tyrus leaned farther into his chair.

"It tells us the infected have developed a healthy fear of expensive machinery."

"The ordinary infected used to follow aircraft noise," Johannes said. "Even when they could not reach them."

"Then they have learned restraint. A rare quality among the dead. Quite fascinating, don’t you think?"

Hans ignored the comment and opened another channel.

"Flight Operations, synchronize all six recordings after landing. Separate the final three runs and include the local Radar tracks."

"Understood, Golden Eagle."

"Prepare a storage drive and a printed route summary. Send both to the Main Base. Inform Matilda."

"Flight Operations copies."

Tyrus looked between Hans and the terminal.

"Are we finished with my part now?"

"You still have six specimen sets to compare."

"I meant here."

"Yes."

"That sounded less like permission and more like dismissal."

Johannes gathered the printed transcripts.

"It can be both."

Tyrus stood from his chair with a disappointed sigh.

"You are becoming increasingly unpleasant, Agent Schandler."

"I spent five days working beside you."

"That should have improved your character and your intelligence."

"It improved my patience."

Hans pushed the storage drive toward Johannes.

"Marcus keeps the original recordings. Submit the shortened report with the voice matches and everything you can confirm from Cell Eleven’s financial investigation."

Johannes took the drive.

"We have several overlaps already. Most involve companies appearing behind separate accounts, although Cell Eleven was watching the movement from Highcross while we approached it through the western routes."

"Bring me the pattern once you understand it."

"And the people involved?"

"If any remain alive, that comes after."

Johannes nodded and stood.

Tyrus paused beside the door.

"My laboratory?"

"Still no."

"It did not improve during this conversation."

"Neither did my answer."

Johannes opened the door. "Doctor."

Tyrus followed him into the corridor.

Hans returned to the Airfield timer.

Raptor One through Six entered their landing sequence shortly afterward. Flight Operations staggered their landings before guiding each fighter toward the hardened sections surrounding the runway.

...

An Army Soldier arrived from the Airfield later with a sealed storage drive and a printed route summary. Matilda reached the briefing room several minutes afterward, carrying the Ironford district map under one arm.

Hans connected the drive to the terminal. Flight Operations had already synchronized the six recordings and separated the final runs by direction, altitude, local Radar track, and optical footage.

"All six returned undamaged?"

"Yes. Every aircraft still had missiles aboard."

"That is unusual."

"They ran out of targets before they ran out of missiles."

Matilda took the chair previously occupied by Johannes and unfolded the route summary beside the terminal.

Flight Operations arranged the final three runs side by side. Each recording carried altitude, heading, local Radar, and optical footage from the aircraft’s targeting systems.

The first pass came from the northwest.

Several infected occupied the open roads surrounding a group of factories. Larger figures moved among them, remaining close to loading entrances and the reinforced walls of the nearby structures.

Raptor One entered its final turn.

The exposed infected reacted before the aircraft appeared inside the camera’s narrower view.

Some entered loading bays. Others disappeared under a collapsed section connecting two industrial buildings. The larger contacts reached cover first, leaving ordinary infected scattered across the road.

Raptor One did not release a missile.

The recording shifted to the second run.

Raptor Three entered from the east at a different altitude. The same roads remained mostly empty. Several infected stood beside damaged trucks, though none of the larger targets had returned.

A few seconds before the fighter completed its turn, those remaining outside began moving toward the nearest structures.

Matilda paused the feed.

"They responded before visual contact."

"Raptor One reported the same thing."

"They still heard the aircraft. This time, they moved away from the noise."

Hans changed to the southern approach.

Raptor Five had reduced its altitude farther from the Hive before using several buildings to conceal part of its route. The aircraft emerged along a different line, fast enough that ordinary infected remained on the road during the first seconds of the recording.

The larger contacts had already disappeared.

Matilda replayed the sequence.

"They may have different warning thresholds."

"The stronger ones are being protected first."

"Or they understand what the aircraft can kill."

Hans enlarged the local Radar track.

Markers entered the structures surrounding the Hive. Some dropped below street level and joined the dense contacts already registered under Ironford’s industrial blocks.

The local Radar retained their rough positions, though the overlapping buildings, service levels, and underground areas prevented the aircraft from following them farther.

The larger markers stayed underground for the rest of the orbit.

Hans changed to the next recording.

The pattern repeated despite the different heading and altitude. The final run had almost no exposed targets at all.

Raptor One’s voice entered through the recording.

"No priority contacts. I have ordinary uglies near the western warehouse, but nothing worth a missile."

Flight Operations answered.

"Continue observation. Do not strike without a confirmed priority target."

"Raptor One copies. I would rather bring these home than remodel another roof."

The fighter remained over the district for another pass. Only ordinary infected remained outside.

Matilda closed the audio.

"They have adjusted to the patrols."

"They adjusted quickly."

"The repeated strikes taught them what the Raptors sound like and what happens when important assets remain outside."

Hans examined the six tracks again. The aircraft had entered from three directions, yet the larger infected reached cover before every final turn. Some warning passed through the concentration before the fighters entered effective range.

Whether that warning came from sound, exposed sentries, or the Hive itself remained uncertain.

"Can Flight Operations vary the routes further?" Hans asked.

"Yes, though that will only change the direction. Once the fighters come close enough, the infected will continue moving under cover."

"So we end the predictable passes?"

Matilda looked toward him.

"Until the operation begins. The Raptors will return once the Hive’s main force has been drawn into the open, then strike exposed targets. Repeating the same passes now only gives it more practice."

Matilda returned to the first recording.

"We still need to determine where the larger contacts remain."

"The aircraft cannot follow them through a roof."

"Falcons can inspect lower, but that places slower aircraft inside the Hive’s response range."

"And Scouts approaching through the roads will announce themselves long before they can reach the inner structures."

Matilda did not answer immediately.

She moved between the optical recordings and the Ironford district map, marking the buildings used during the withdrawals.

Most were industrial structures with reinforced roofs, enclosed loading sections, and access to service roads hidden from the larger avenues.

The infected had used the city well.

"The Falcons do not need to land on the road," Matilda said.

Hans looked toward her.

"What do you have in mind?"

"A Falcon can place a team on a roof through fast-rope deployment. The aircraft remains above the structure only long enough for the team to descend, then leaves before the surrounding infected gather."

"DASF?"

"For the inner observation positions, yes. Ordinary Scouts can work farther from the Hive."

Hans studied the marked rooftops.

His DASF units had spent most major operations near the command element, assault routes, or secured structures. Their physical ability allowed them to survive much closer to the Hive than ordinary infantry, although dropping them into an uncleared section of Ironford without support would still be reckless.

Fast-rope insertion had not yet been used by his army.

The Falcon crews would understand the procedure. The DASF units would as well. Hans remained the only person in the room who had never watched either side perform it outside recordings and simulations.

"We test it first," he said.

Matilda nodded.

"One Falcon and one DASF squad. We can conduct the first deployment inside the secured industrial sector."

"No operational insertion until that is complete."

"The test can be prepared tomorrow morning."

Hans looked back toward the Ironford recordings.

"Prepare the possible observation positions. Do not commit a team yet."

"I will coordinate with Flight Operations and the DASF leaders."

Matilda opened the Falcon roster beside the district map, then brought up the available DASF squads.

The next move against the Hive would begin with a single test.

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